Holiday sentenced to 12 years in Veterans Park killing; Salt's murder trial set for January

A Cortez woman who admitted taking part in the beatings that killed one man and critically injured two others at Veterans Park last year has been sentenced to 12 years in state prison.

Nykhona Holiday, 21, pleaded guilty Aug. 7 in Montezuma County District Court to manslaughter and second-degree assault under an agreement with prosecutors that capped her sentence at 25 years. She had originally been charged with first-degree murder. District Court Judge William Furse imposed the 12-year term at a sentencing hearing Friday, Oct. 9, at the Montezuma County Combined Courts, The Journal reported.

Her co-defendant, Robert Salt Jr., 34, still faces first-degree murder and assault charges. He has pleaded not guilty, and his jury trial is scheduled for January 2027.

The night in the park

Cortez police were called to Veterans Park about 8 p.m. on Aug. 20, 2025, for a violent assault involving three men. Curtis Benally, 40, was found dead near the community pool house; the Cortez Police Department said he died of blunt force trauma. Anthony Hill, 56, and Bilbert Tsosie, 61, were hospitalized in critical condition. Witnesses told police the men had been kicked repeatedly in the head.

Hill died March 15 in Maricopa County, Arizona. Assistant District Attorney Justin Pierce told the court Friday that prosecutors could not show his death was related to the injuries he suffered in the park, according to The Journal.

Police arrested Salt and Holiday the same night. According to a police affidavit described in earlier hearings, Holiday walked up to officers at the scene saying she was looking for her phone, with blood on her shirt and shoes. She told detectives that Salt had been drunk and agitated, that he assaulted the men and threatened her life if she did not join in, and that she kicked all three men. A detective testified at a preliminary hearing in February that a witness said the pair told him, “This is what we do.”

At their first court appearance, Furse set bond at $3 million cash-only for Salt and $1 million for Holiday. Prosecutors said at that hearing that the two went to City Market afterward, still bloodied, stole more alcohol and returned to the park.

Prosecutor asks for the maximum

Pierce asked for 25 years, the most the plea agreement allowed. He opened by playing body-camera video of the officer who found Benally unresponsive on the pavement and, moments later, the arrival of Benally’s mother, who was driving around looking for her son. Pierce said he began that way deliberately, to keep the focus on the three victims and the families who cared about them.

He argued Holiday was a willing participant rather than a coerced one, showing surveillance video of the couple holding hands and kissing, and said she admitted kicking the men, whose injuries were concentrated on their heads. He told the court that during a 2½-hour police interview she was more concerned about her phone, her hair and being tired, and did not claim Salt forced her until an hour or more in. He said his office had been prepared to take the original murder and assault charges to trial.

Benally’s sister, Curtina Benally, told the court her brother had treated Holiday like family and that the last time she saw him he was lying lifeless in the park. She said the loss has left a lasting hole in the family and asked the judge to impose the maximum. Hill’s son, Anthony Hill Jr., said his relationship with his father was complicated but that he and his sibling have lost him for the rest of their lives, and he asked the court for accountability.

Defense: she was 20, drunk and afraid of Salt

Holiday’s attorney, Stephen Singer, said the case file shows Holiday admitted to kicking the men five or six times but nowhere says she kicked anyone in the head, and that it was Salt who did so. He objected to the prosecution’s characterization of the evidence, citing a 1935 U.S. Supreme Court line that prosecutors may strike hard blows but not foul ones.

Singer said abusive relationships can involve fear and affection at the same time and that the court should not judge domestic violence by a 19th-century standard. He asked Furse to weigh Holiday’s age — she was 20 at the time — her stage of brain development, her fear of Salt and how intoxicated she was that night, and to set a sentence that accounted for Salt’s role.

The judge’s reasoning

Furse said he had spent a great deal of time on the case and knew the sentence would be felt in Salt’s pending case and across the community. He said the plea agreement’s wide range left him uncertain about the right number.

He called the assaults violent and tragic, said he was not aware of any motive, and said he did not believe anyone knew what happened in the park that night other than Holiday, who was intoxicated. He said he was sorry the hearing could not give the families more answers.

Furse said imposing the maximum would be an easy way to deliver justice for the families, “but I just can’t do that.” He said he believed Holiday was remorseful, that court records showed she had survived a toxic and violent domestic relationship, and that the presentence report showed she had no criminal history until after she met Salt. He said alcoholism ran through the case alongside domestic violence.

The judge noted that Salt is presumed innocent until he stands trial, but said that did not stop him from considering mitigating factors in Holiday’s case.

What’s next

Holiday also pleaded guilty Sept. 1 to third-degree assault in an unrelated 2025 case and admitted a probation violation. Her attorney and District Attorney Jeremy Reed told the court at the time that sentencing in those matters would follow her sentencing in the homicide case.

Salt’s trial is set for January 2027 in Cortez. Prosecutors said earlier this year that Hill’s death could affect the charges against him.

The Cortez Current was not present at the Oct. 9 hearing. Hearing details are from The Journal’s coverage; background is from Cortez Police Department releases, KSJD newscasts and court records.