A Dulce man will spend two-and-a-half years in federal prison for brutally attacking a man he did not know because he didn’t like the way the victim was talking to his friend.
James Julian, 26, an enrolled member of the Jicarilla Apache Indian Tribe, pleaded guilty without a plea deal, to assault resulting in serious bodily injury on Aug. 6. District Judge Kea Riggs sentenced him on Nov. 5 to two-and-a-half years in prison followed by two years of supervised release, according to federal court records.
A federal grand jury indicted him on the charge on March 26 and he was arrested on April 8. He had been held without bail between the April arrest and his sentencing on Nov. 5, despite efforts of his defense attorney to get him released following his guilty plea and pending sentencing.
While New Mexico law sets a very high bar to have someone held without bail, federal law has no such requirements.
The Attack
Federal prosecutor Jack Burkhead outlined the case against Julian in a sentencing memorandum. Because Julian was indicted, charging documents contained no details of his attack.
The victim was visiting his cousin, Nick Elote, at Elote’s house on Feb. 1, drinking and hanging out. At some point, one of Elote’s friends, Julian, came over. The victim, identified as “John Doe” in court documents, did not know him.
“As it got later in the evening, Doe and Nick got into a verbal argument regarding Nick’s deceased father,” Burkhead wrote. “The defendant interjected himself by stating that he did not like the way Doe as talking to Nick. Doe responded that the conversation did not concern the defendant.”
Julian attacked the victim, repeatedly hitting him in the face, while the victim remembered being on the floor, trying to cover his face. Elote didn’t attack him, but didn’t stop the attack either, later telling investigators he was in the bathroom when it happened, he wrote.
The attack knocked the victim unconscious and at some point thereafter, Julian stopped. Elote claimed he kicked Julian out of the house after the attack, while Julian told investigators Elote let him spend the night, Burkhead wrote.
Elote does not appear to have ever been charged with a crime.
Julian told investigators he hit the victim because “Doe was being mean to Nick about Nick’s deceased father,” he wrote.
“The defendant claimed that Doe was getting in Nick’s face, so, according to the defendant, he ‘just reacted’ and hit Doe ‘first,’” Burkhead wrote. “He stated that he only hit Doe twice in the face and indicated that the blows were to Doe’s eyebrow and tooth. The defendant denied hitting Doe to the point of unconsciousness but stated that after he hit Doe’s tooth, ‘that’s when he went to sleep and he chilled out.’”
The victim’s injuries included a nasal fracture, an orbit fracture, a 4.5-inch cut to his nasal bridge, a 4.5-inch cut to his right eyebrow and a fractured rib. The nasal fracture required eight stitches and follow-up care as it is an “open fracture,” Burkhead wrote.
Sentence
Sentencing guidelines put Julian’s sentence at 27 to 33 months, and that’s the range Burkhead asked for from the judge.
Julian’s attorney, public defender Martin Juarez, does not appear to have filed any sentencing memorandum, asking for a specific sentence, although there are many missing entries on the docket around the time the memorandum would have been sealed. No sealing orders appear in the case.