Court upholds conviction of one killer, guilty plea of another

Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009 | 11:52 a.m.

CARSON CITY – The Nevada Supreme Court has upheld the second-degree murder conviction of Raven Navajo, who was found guilty of killing a cocktail waitress after a night of drinking in Las Vegas.

Navajo, who is also known as Michael S. Harman, claimed District Judge Lee Gates erred when he refused to provide jury instructions, including one that the killing was in self-defense.

Navajo and Brenda Schmalfeld were drinking for several hours and ended up at Navajo’s home. A disagreement ensued and Schmalfeld was beaten to death and her body stuffed in a trash bin.

Navajo says testimony about visible scratches and bruises on her body were sufficient for a jury instruction of self-defense.

The Supreme Court said the fact that Navajo and Schmalfeld fought does not show Schmalfeld attacked her. The injuries could have resulted from Schmalfeld defending herself, from Navajo attacking Schmalfeld.

The disagreement was whether Schmalfeld stole money out of Navajo’s purse.

Navajo, now 41, was sentenced in 2008 to 10 years to life and is serving the sentence at the state prison in Ely.

The court also refused to allow Angel J. Diaz to withdraw his plea to second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Justin Harris at an apartment swimming pool in Las Vegas in 2000.

Dias, who was 15 years old at the time, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms with the possibility of parole on his guilty plea. Diaz claimed he was induced or coerced into pleading guilty.

He says the District Attorney’s office improperly threatened him with the death penalty when he was ineligible for a death sentence because he was a minor.

The court said Diaz filed his motion more than eight years after the conviction. And he filed two previous petitions and motions to withdraw the guilty plea.

The court said Diaz failed to explain why his new motion was filed so late.