Two Cortez residents accused of beating a man to death and seriously injuring two other men in Veterans Park the evening of Aug. 20 appeared in District Court Friday.
Thirty-three-year-old Robert Salt, Jr., was advised that he faces five charges, including one count of first-degree murder in the death of Curtis Benally, who was 40 years old.
Salt also faces two counts of first-degree assault, a Class 3 felony, in the beatings of Bilbert Tsosie and Anthony Hill. Tsosie, who is 61, and Hill, who is 56, were reportedly seriously injured and had to be hospitalized.
Salt also has been charged with two habitual-criminal counts because he has two previous felony convictions. Habitual-criminal charges are sentence enhancers.
Twenty-year-old Nykhona Holiday, who is alleged to have taken part in the brutal beatings, was told she faces three charges, though they were not read in court.
At Salt’s bond hearing on Aug. 21, assistant District Attorney Justin Pierce said Salt and Holiday kicked all the victims in the head. Pierce said that surveillance-camera video showed that when one man rose and tried to stagger away, Salt chased him down until they were out of view.
A police affidavit states that Holiday later told police she was forced to take part in the assaults.
A preliminary hearing for both suspects has been set for Dec. 12. Salt and Holiday currently remain in custody.
Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.