A jury in Montrose, Colo., deliberated 13 1/2 hours before finding Carlton Lee Yazzie guilty of sexual assault but not murder in the June 7, 2007 death of Nicole Leigh Redhorse of Durango, the Durango Herald reported this weekend.

Yazzie, 39, of Sanostee, N.M., was the second of three Four Corners men to go to trial in the rape and killing of the 34-year-old Redhorse,  and the conviction on the high-level felony with aggravating circumstances means Yazzie could spend up to 48 years in prison, District Attorney Craig Westberg told the Herald.

Derrick Nelson Begaye, 24, of Shiprock, was found guilty in May of sexual assault but was acquitted of felony murder and was sentenced to 48 years in prison, the Herald reported.

A third defendant, Harold Nakai, 34, of Shiprock, is scheduled to go to trial this summer.

Yazzie had been charged with three counts of sexual assault and felony murder, but the jury found him guilty of just one count of sexually assaulting Redhorse while she was so intoxicated that she was incapable of appraising her conduct, the Herald reported.

Westberg could retry Yazzie on the murder and other sexual assault counts because the jury was unable to reach a verdict, but he told the Herald on Saturday that he is uncertain what he will do.

But Westberg called the one conviction on Saturday "a fair verdict," telling the Herald in a phone interview: "We do appreciate the people up here in Montrose. They took this very seriously."

The trial was moved to Montrose from Durango, where the case received considerable publicity, and Judge Jeffrey Wilson said he wanted to ensure a fair and impartial jury, the Herald reported.

Redhorse, who was born in Farmington, attended schools in Arizona and Colorado before going on to Dartmouth College, where she graduated in 1995. 

8:35am 5/13/08 -- Shiprock Man Sentenced in Redhorse Case: First of three defendants in death of Durango woman gets 48 years for violent sexual assault.

Derrick Nelson Begaye, 24, of Shiprock, was sentenced Monday to 48 years to life in prison for the violent sexual assault of Nicole Leigh Redhorse who died of her injuries in a Durango motel room in June 2007, the Durango Herald reported.

Begaye was found guilty by a jury in March of three counts of sexual assault but was spared a murder conviction, which carries a lifetime prison sentence in Colorado, the Herald reported.

District Judge Jeffrey Wilson on Monday imposed the maximum possible sentence on Begaye, and under Colorado law a high-level sexual assault offender can be kept in prison indefinitely until authorities find they have reformed, according to the Herald.

Begaye and two other New Mexico men were accused of raping and killing Redhorse at the Spanish Trails Inn & Suites in Durango, where the 1995 Dartmouth College graduate was found dead on June 7, 2007, the Herald reported.

The other defendants, Harold Nakai and Carlton Lee Yazzie, are charged with murder and sexual assault and are scheduled for separate trials this summer, the paper said.

Begaye's attorney Joel Fry on Monday said his client had sex with Redhorse while she was too intoxicated to consent but he noted that the jury in March had not convicted Begaye of hurting or killing Redhorse, the Herald reported.

District Attorney Craig Westberg countered that while prosecutors may never know which defendant caused Redhorse's injuries, all three men operated in unison, the paper said.

In a videotaped interview with police, Begaye told an investigator that he respected women, but Judge Wilson said in handing down his sentence Monday that the opposite was true.

"I don't know what world you're living in," the judge told Begaye. "I don't see that you have any respect for human life." 

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