The daughters of an assault victim said they will never have the answer to why a tribal relative assaulted their father and then waited for 12 hours before taking him to a place where he could get help and medical attention — but by then it was too late.
During a sentencing hearing for 29-year-old Remus Begay, the daughters of 63-year-old Danny Lansing gave tearful statements, saying they will never have their father to give them away at their weddings and will never have him be a grandfather to their children.
"I have lost a confidant and a supporter," said 33-year-old Danielle Lansing. "This should not be happening and it plays in my mind over and over again."
Begay is charged with assaulting 63-year-old Lansing outside a bar on the Navajo reservation near Hatch on March 4, 2006. Federal prosecutors said Lansing and Begay went out drinking that night. Lansing was Begay's grandfather by clan relation. The trouble began when Lansing reportedly called Begay a name and Begay became angry and started punching and kicking Lansing. After the assault, Begay placed Lansing in a car and drove him to a remote location. After 12 hours, prosecutors say Begay noticed Lansing was not well and drove him to his brother's home where his brother tried to revive him. Lansing was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where he was pronounced head.
An autopsy concluded that Lansing died of blunt trauma to the head and subsequent swelling of his brain.
Holding a picture of her father, Danielle Lansing said her father taught her that education was important. Just two weeks before the assault, Danielle said she had found out she had been accepted into a doctoral program at Arizona State University in Phoenix, where she lived at the time. She said she regretted not being able to tell her father the news and she's angry that Begay waited 12 hours to get any medical help.
"In 12 hours, I could have driven from Phoenix to take my father to the hospital," she said, sobbing.
Younger sister, Paulette Lansing, said she received a letter from her father that had been mailed before he died. She said for a long time, she couldn't bring herself to open it. At 25, Paulette said she, too, is haunted by how her father must have suffered.
Federal prosecutors said initially, Begay was charged with Lansing's murder but a second autopsy report concluded that Lansing's injury could not have been caused by Begay's assault because the timing of the brain swelling was off. The author of the first autopsy report agreed but did say Lansing was definitely murdered.
In court Tuesday, assistant U.S. Attorney Trina Higgins said her office offered Begay a reduced plea deal, knowing that they did not have enough evidence to take him to trial on murder. Begay accepted the plea deal, agreeing to be sentenced to 20 months.
Begay's defense attorney, Stephen McCaughey, said Begay had already served 18 months in custody waiting for an outcome to the case and that he would be out in two months. U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball also sentenced Begay to 36 months supervised release once his 20-month term is served.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com