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The chief prosecutor in the case against a teen suspected of murdering a nun on the Navajo Indian Reservation last week is refusing to turn him over to federal authorities without an extradition request.
Tribal police arrested the suspect, 18-year-old Reehahlio Carroll, when he was stopped for a traffic violation last week.
Carroll is named in a federal warrant as the suspect in the murder of Sister Marguerite Bartz, so Tribal police took him into custody.
After a court hearing in Window Rock, FBI agents tried to take the teen into bureau custody, but unfortunately for them, the Navajo don’t have to play by their rules.
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The Navajo Nation has its own courts, government, police force, and considers itself a separate country from the United States — despite being landlocked by New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona.
Considering how unhelpful the FBI has been to several news outlets over the course of its investigation into Bartz’s murder — including New Times — we can only applaud anyone looking to inconvenience the federal fuzz.
We called Chief Prosecutor Bernadine Martin to ask why her office is refusing to turn the suspect over but have not heard back. Martin did have this to say to United Press International, though:
“My job is to the Navajo nation. My oath is to the Navajo nation law; my oath is to the government; my oath is to the people. It’s not to the federal government.”
