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FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A non-Indian who blamed the killing of which he was accused on a “‘skinwal ker” of Navajo lore has been ac quitted here. A Coconino County Superior Court jury fond George Abney, a former Northern Arizona University graduate English instructor, inno cent of first-degree murder in the death of a Flagstaff hospital worker. Abney, 36, of Sierra Vista had been accused of brutalizing and strangl ing 40-year-old Sarah Saganitso, a Navajo, in June 1987. Abney was arrested in September as he was contemplating a move to Japan to accept another teaching position, authorities said. The jury deliberated about four hours Tuesday before returning the verdict which ended a trial that be gan June 16. The mutilated body of Ms. Saganitso, a Flagstaff Medical Cen ter housekeeper, had been found ab out a year earlier in a rocky area behind the hospital the morning af ter she left her late-night shift. Abney’s lawyers successfully countered the weight of prosecution testimony with a defense based on the contention that the Navajo wom an had been killed in an Indian witchcraft-type ritual.
Newspaper Details
Independent
Gallup, New Mexico, US
Wed, Jul 20, 1988
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Carol C.
