Jury Convicts Teesto Man for First Degree Murder, Assaulting Tribal Police Officers, and Other Violent Crimes

     PHOENIX – Yesterday, Giordano Jackson, 39, of Teesto, Ariz., was convicted by a jury on all charges, including first degree murder, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and kidnapping.  Jackson will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Diane J. Humetewa in February 2019.

     Jackson had a history of repeated acts of domestic violence against the victim, his girlfriend.  In July 2017, Jackson beat the victim and dragged her by her hair with enough force to pull out chunks of hair.  Then, in September 2017, Jackson brutally beat the victim to death outside his house in Teesto.  Jackson was lying in wait when Navajo Nation Police Officers arrived to investigate the murder, and assaulted two officers with a machete.  Both Jackson and the victim are members of the Navajo Nation, as are the responding Navajo Nation Police Officers that Jackson assaulted, and the crimes all occurred on the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation.

     The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys William G. Voit and Sharon K. Sexton, District of Arizona, Phoenix.