Navajo Man’s Execution Put On Hold By The Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has put the execution of a Navajo man on hold, citing possibly racial bias regarding the jury that convicted him. Lezmond Mitchell is the only Native American on federal death row and his execution was set for December 11th. He was convicted and sentenced to death 2003 in the 2001 deaths of Alyce Slim and her nine-year-old granddaughter during a carjacking. Slim and her granddaughter were from Fort Defiance and were heading to New Mexico to see a medicine man when the incident happened. Their bodies were found in a wooded area near Tsalie on the Navajo Nation. Mitchell is currently being held in a federal prison in Indiana. A hearing will take place December 13th in Phoenix.