DURANGO — A man convicted of sexually assaulting a Durango woman who died after the abuse nearly a decade ago has been sentenced to 48 years to life in prison for sexual assault and criminally negligent homicide.
Harold Nakai, of Shiprock, New Mexico, was sentenced Monday for the 2007 death of his girlfriend, 34-year-old Nicole Leigh Redhorse. He was one of three men who served large amounts of vodka to the woman before sexually assaulting her at a motel. Redhorse bled to death after the sexual assault.
The other men, Derrick Begaye and Carlton Yazzie, are serving 48-year prison terms after being found guilty in 2008 of criminally negligent homicide and sexual assault.
Nakai was convicted of the same charges, but an appeals court granted him a new trial last year after finding that some of his statements to police were made involuntarily.
He was found guilty again of negligent homicide in June, but jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision on the more-serious sexual assault charge. So prosecutors tried him a third time in September, which resulted in a conviction for sexual assault.
