Associated Press - September 3, 2009 3:14 PM ET
KINGMAN, Ariz. (AP) - A man who is both a resident of Peach Springs in northwestern Arizona and a member of the Gila River Indian tribe has drawn a 16 year federal prison term for killing a man with a wood-splitting maul.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix said 20-year-old Jonathon Bennie Yazzie Jr. was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix.
Yazzie pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of 47-year-old Edgar Walema Sr.
U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said the pair became involved in a fight after the intoxicated Yazzie kicked the door in and entered his mother's home in Peach Springs last November.
Hornbuckle said Walema died instantly when Yazzie struck him in the head with the maul.
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