ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A Bloomfield man has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the 2011 killing of a Navajo woman in New Mexico.
Federal prosecutors say 39-year-old Jasper Fernandez entered a plea agreement in the case Thursday in which he will be sentenced for time served. He’s been in custody since his February 2012 arrest
Fernandez was accused of killing a 36-year-old woman on the Navajo Nation on Nov. 4, 2011 and then burying her body.
Fernandez says he was defending himself during a fight in which he lost a tooth.
He told authorities that he and the woman both were intoxicated when she began kicking and punching him because he criticized her.
Fernandez says he pushed the victim away too hard and caused her to hit her head against a car door.
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