PHOENIX (AP) - A Fort Defiance man accused of a fatal stabbing has been sentenced to 17 ½ years in federal prison.
Prosecutors said 25-year-old Lodi Gene Bitsie II was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix.
Bitsie previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the April 2019 incident on the Navajo Nation reservation.
Prosecutors said Bitsie argued with the victim before punching him and then stabbing him in chest with a large knife.
They said the victim died from the stab wounds.
The FBI investigated the case because it was on tribal land.
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