One guilty in swastika-branding case

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The first defendant in the swastika-branding of a developmentally disabled Navajo man has been convicted on one count.

A Farmington jury found William Hatch guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated battery.

A fourth degree felony that could put him in prison for a couple of years, but it acquitted him of more serious crimes including kidnapping.

Hatch and two others are charged with scarring the victim with the symbols of hate.

The other two men have not yet been tried on the state charges.

All three also face trial on federal hate crime charges.