A Shiprock man was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for fatally beating another man.
Morrie Lee Begaye, 37, admitted in federal court that on June 26, 2022, he fatally beat another man at a home in Shiprock. He admitted that he “punched and kicked” the man in the “head and body,” according to court records.
The victim suffered a “large bleed in the space surrounding the left side of his brain,” and it caused “the brain to shift inside the skull.” The man was in a coma and was declared brain-dead two days after the beating, court records state.
Begaye must serve three years of supervised release once he’s out of prison.
The Farmington Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Police Department and Navajo Department of Criminal Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Caitlin L. Dillon and Brittany DuChaussee prosecuted the case.
