PINEHILL, N.M. – A family feud in Ramah, New Mexico, boiled over in 2018 and ended in murder. Years later, justice is found for the victim as Brandon Charley was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for the murder of John Doe.
Court records do not identify John Doe, but they do identify a long running feud between Doe’s and Charley’s families. Both families live in the Prewitt-Pinehill area, and their fighting has been known to spill into the streets. Court documents show that the conflict had been brewing in the 1990s before erupting into street violence in the 2000s. The victim’s family was not identified.
On June 24, 2018, a woman identified only as C.Y. in court records drove John Doe and another friend, identified as C.M., to an overlook near Prewitt. The three drank alcohol and had sex with each other. Around 2 p.m. Charley and his cousin Two Eagles drove near the outlook in a Tahoe and saw John Doe and C.Y., they stopped their Tahoe.
Due to bad blood between families, Charley went to confront John Doe, the two began to argue and Doe fled the scene, leaving C.Y. with Charley and Two Eagles. Doe travelled back home, picking up a baseball bat and his brother; Doe did not wait for his brother, however, and instead started back to the lookout on foot.
While running back to the overlook, Doe ran into a group of his friends, court records only identify the driver of the vehicle as Carlos Willeto. Court documents show that Doe told the men Charley was beating and raping C.Y., and the group drove back to the outlook. Doe clung on to the truck’s footboard, the thin step fitted underneath the passenger doors with a baseball bat in hand, and rode toward the overlook.
When the vehicle drove up on the scene, Charley and Two Eagles were still there with C.Y. Doe jumped off the footboard and charged at the two men. They fled the scene, leaving C.Y. Not wanting to let the men escape, Doe threw a rock at full force, shattering the back window of Two Eagles’ Tahoe.
Thinking the rock was a gunshot, Two Eagles stopped the truck about 200 yards from the overlook and glanced back, seeing Doe hit C.Y. with a baseball bat. According to court documents, her head was bleeding significantly. In evidence Charley intended to present to the court, he claims that Doe had raped C.Y. and beat her, this is why he and Two Eagles went to the overlook. This argument was withdrawn from the court record by Charley.
Two Eagles drove home to Crownpoint, where Charley had his sisters call the Navajo Nation police. Charley grabbed a pistol and ammunition, demanding that Two Eagles drive him back to the overlook.
The situation quickly escalated as Charley arrived at the overlook.
Doe went to Willeto and his group of friends to ask them for help getting C.Y. in their vehicle and drive to Grants so C.Y. could get medical treatment from Cibola General Hospital. As the group of men went to help C.Y., Charley and Two Eagles drove up. Charley saw John Doe trying to leave and drew his gun, firing three times.
Two bullets lodged into the vehicle, one ricocheted and struck Doe in the chest, killing him. The other occupants of the vehicle ran away on foot from the incident. Charley quickly returned to Two Eagles’ vehicle and they drove away, leaving Doe and C.Y. alone at the scene in Willeto’s vehicle. Several area residents called the police after hearing the gunshots.
In court, Charley wanted to plead “not guilty” for reason of “Self Defense or Defense of Another” but the court did not allow this defense because it did not meet the legal standard of “Self Defense or Defense of Another.” In court documents, the court declares, “There is no evidence that Doe or [his group] threatened a Defendant with imminent death or great bodily injury at the moment Defendant fired his weapon. Defendant did believe that Doe shot out of the Tahoe‘s window with a gun. But rather than calling the police, Defendants on evidentiary proffer shows that several minutes passed as Defendant went home, grabbed a gun, and then returned to scene, making him the aggressor. Nobody initiated or returned gunfire at Defendant and Doe was, in fact, unarmed as Defendant shot him standing from the position of safety some 50 yards away. It therefore is irrelevant that Defendant and Doe had earlier scuffled and Doe had brandished a bat and then broke the Tahoe’s windshield with what Defendant thought was gunshot, because at the time Defendant fired, he was faced with no imminent threat of death or bodily injury.”
On September 8, 2021, Charley pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. On July 5, Charley received five years and three months in a federal prison, he will be placed on supervised release for three years after his release from prison. Both Charley and Doe are enrolled members of the Navajo Nation.
The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office handled the investigation into this case with assistance from the Navajo Nation Department of Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph M. Spindle and Letitia Carroll Simms successfully prosecuted this case.