{"id":15895,"date":"2025-10-30T20:05:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T02:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/government-continues-presenting-witnesses-in-lyndreth-wall-sexual-assault-trial\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:52:08","slug":"government-continues-presenting-witnesses-in-lyndreth-wall-sexual-assault-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/government-continues-presenting-witnesses-in-lyndreth-wall-sexual-assault-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Government continues presenting witnesses in Lyndreth Wall sexual assault trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lyndreth
Lyndreth Wall, former Ute Mountain Ute councilman, speaks to the children at Kwiyagat Community Academy during the first day of school in Towaoc in August 2021. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald File Photo)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: This story contains court testimonies and language regarding allegations of sexual assault and rape. Please use caution when reading. <\/em>If you or someone you may know has experienced an assault or rape and would like help, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at (800) 656-4673 or contact SASO Durango, the Sexual Assault Services Organization offers a 24-hour, confidential support line at 970-247-5400. For more resources online, please visit the National Sexual Violence Resource Center at https:\/\/www.nsvrc.org\/survivors\/ <\/em><\/p>\n

In a federal court Thursday, more women testified how ceremonies led by Lyndreth Wall were meant to clear negative energy with feathers, crystals, sage and fire, and instead, it turned into abuse that some stayed silent about for several years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted healing, and I thought you had to go through pain to be healed,\u201d one woman testified in a U.S. District Court in Durango.<\/p>\n

Testimonies continued Thursday as the government\u2019s case moves forward against the former Ute Mountain Ute Tribal councilman. One carried over from the previous day and two were from new witnesses.<\/p>\n

Each of the women testified they turned to him for spiritual healing. Instead, they say they faced abuse by someone they viewed as a reputable medicine man. Walls faces 20 felonies under the Major Crimes Act related to sexual assault and contact, and his trial is on the fourth day.<\/p>\n

His defense team worked to question the women\u2019s credibility, pointing to inconsistencies in statements and the time that passed before they reported the allegations to police. Wall\u2019s attorneys argue he is innocent and that some encounters with the women were romantic affairs.<\/p>\n

His attorneys have asserted the case is partly politically motivated, stemming from divisions within tribe politics and have argued the allegations surfaced as a way to push Wall off the council.<\/p>\n

Still, it is the government\u2019s turn to put on their case, with defense following once they rest.<\/p>\n

The accounts from three witnesses spanned years and generations: a young woman said her abuse took place when she was a child, while one woman testified the ceremonies were supposed to heal her depression. Another said she fled a blessing taking place in a dimly lit trailer near Wall\u2019s Towaoc property.<\/p>\n

Three testimonies heard in court Thursday<\/div>\n

In the morning, the witness from Wednesday<\/a> returned to the stand for cross-examination. She grew emotional at times, saying she didn\u2019t remember some details of the abuse that started when she was 13 years old. Defense attorney Laura Suelau questioned her memory and any potential outside influencers, such as her mother, and whether they collaborated on their statements when they went to make official reports in 2017.<\/p>\n

The defense further brought up the plausibility of the woman\u2019s timeline, noting that one of Wall\u2019s daughters she said she was babysitting when the abuse occurred hadn\u2019t been born yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo your statement that you were babysitting \u2026 when you were 13, that can\u2019t be true, can it?\u201d Suelau asked the witness.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently so,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n

Another woman took the stand Thursday to say she met Wall through her boyfriend\u2019s family, who gave her his reference as a medicine man. She initially sought help from Wall, thinking through ceremonies that used feathers, sage and fires, she might heal her from depression.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a few times, I wasn\u2019t getting better. I was willing to go through pain to get it over with. I didn\u2019t want a dark cloud in my head anymore,\u201d she testified.<\/p>\n

In the beginning, she attended sessions with her boyfriend, who hoped to address some knee pain, and she paid Wall roughly $100 for initial visits that remained \u201cfine\u201d and appropriate.<\/p>\n

Only she said Wall later insisted he \u201ccheck\u201d on her alone. The following visits led to groping and sex abuse, she testified. She left feeling \u201cunpleasant, uncomfortable, miserable,\u201d but continued and believed she was practicing a genuine spiritual practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you leave?\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Graves asked the witness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted healing, and I thought you had to go through pain to be healed. I thought that was how it worked,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A third woman gave testimony that said she fled a trailer after a blessing turned into unwanted sexual touching. She described being taken to another house, asked to sit on an old mattress and touched under her shirt as Wall spoke in Ute and tried to suck air from her mouth. \u201cI felt violated,\u201d she said. \u201cI left as fast as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman explained she came forward in 2025 after reading The Journal\u2019s<\/em> story about Wall<\/a> that listed where to contact law enforcement to report any information.<\/p>\n

During cross-examination, defense attorney Summer Woods pushed the witness on her delay in reporting:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou did not call law enforcement until 2025 \u2014 that\u2019s nine years later,\u201d Woods said. Woods suggested the motive for coming forward was tied to recent events rather than the alleged incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou saw an article that there was all this turmoil over there getting him off council? Is it your testimony that there was all the turmoil over there getting him off council?\u201d She asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t aware, I don\u2019t get up with Ute Mountain Ute politics,\u201d the witness said.<\/p>\n

Court starts first thing Friday morning with Woods\u2019 continued cross-examination of the woman.<\/p>\n

The court plans to adjourn slightly early Friday to allow jurors and witnesses to travel home through mountain passes before dusk.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Gordon Gallagher also noted an ongoing issue with a subpoena for former Ute Mountain Ute tribal leader Manuel Heart. According to the defense, Heart explicitly told their team Thursday he would not be testifying when served with the subpoena.<\/p>\n

Gallagher said the matter would be addressed Monday if necessary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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