A Tohatchi man is facing 13 months in jail after he drove while under the influence of alcohol and killed a man.
According to court documents, on Nov. 2, 2022, Donovan Henry was driving east on Route 134 in Sheep Springs, New Mexico, with two passengers when he lost control of his vehicle. The car went off the two-lane road and flipped when it hit a boulder. All three occupants were ejected. A Navajo Police officer arrived to find 40-year-old Henry underneath the vehicle and his two passengers lying on the ground near the vehicle.
Henry, who is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, was airlifted to San Juan Regional Medical Center. The front-seat passenger, who was also a member of the Navajo Nation, was placed in an ambulance bound for Northern Navajo Medical Center. The back-seat passenger was placed in an ambulance going to Gallup Indian Medical Center. The first passenger died due to his injuries while in the back of the ambulance before it left the scene. Henry’s blood-alcohol content, which was drawn at the hospital following the wreck, was .16.
Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, announced on Jan. 4 that Henry was sentenced to 13 months in prison, with restitution to the Crime Victim’s Reparations Commission for funeral expenses, and additional restitution to his living victim and to his deceased victim’s next of kin. Henry pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Indian Country on July 14.
Upon his release, Henry will be subject to mandatory alcohol treatment and three years of supervised release.
The Farmington Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Police Department and the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator. Assistant United States Attorney Zachary Jones is prosecuting the case.
