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Friday, November 13, 2009
Accused in Federal Custody
By Mike Gallagher
Journal Staff Writer
Federal agents were enforcing a legal court order when they took custody of murder suspect Reehahlio Carroll from Navajo authorities, U.S. Magistrate Richard L. Puglisi ruled Thursday.
Carroll, 18, is charged with the beating death of Sister Marguerite Bartz, a Roman Catholic nun, at St. Berard's Mission Church in Navajo, N.M., around midnight on Halloween.
Carroll was scheduled for an ordinary preliminary hearing Thursday, but, in an unusual move, chief Navajo Nation prosecutor Bernadine Martin asked to intervene in Carroll's case, claiming federal prosecutors "felt the need to bulldoze the Navajo Nation" in taking custody of Carroll.
On Monday, Carroll was being held by the Navajo Nation Department of Corrections on a $500 bond for reckless driving when Puglisi issued an order for agents to take custody of Carroll to face the murder charge.
Following Thursday's hearing, Puglisi ordered Carroll held without bond and found probable cause for the charge that he killed the 68-year-old Bartz in a burglary of the church convent.
Puglisi's decision came after testimony from FBI Special Agent John Pierson, who outlined Carroll's previously reported taped confession and some of the physical evidence.
Martin claimed the U.S. Attorney's Office was running roughshod over the tribe's extradition system and failed to provide the supporting affidavits for Puglisi's order transferring custody to federal agents and the arrest warrants.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Yarbrough said during the hearing that efforts had been made to provide Martin with the supporting documentation, including e-mailing it to her.
"I was present when the U.S. attorney hit the send button to get her the documents," Yarbrough said. "The affidavits and arrest warrants were sealed; we didn't want to send them to just anyone or any fax machine."
Martin said she never received the documents until Thursday morning and that she didn't get messages from another federal prosecutor, although she said there were messages on her desk that she had not checked.
In her motion to intervene, Martin claimed federal agents "demanded and took custody of" Carroll without the requisite paperwork. However, federal agents said that Carroll was handed over to them by Navajo officials at the New Mexico state line.
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