DIANE J. HUMETEWA
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA
Diane J. Humetewa was sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona on Monday, December 17, 2007. Ms. Humetewa started at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1986 as one of the first victim-witness advocates in the federal criminal justice system and helped develop a victim advocacy model that was replicated nationally for similar jurisdictions.
She left the office to attend law school at Arizona State University, graduating in 1993. Before rejoining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1996 as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney then an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Ms. Humetewa was counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Tribal Justice, and counsel for Senator John McCain, U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
While an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Ms. Humetewa prosecuted violent crime cases including child sex crimes, homicides, assaults, bank robberies, and theft of cultural patrimony cases. She also worked in the civil section defending lawsuits brought against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act and represented the United States’ interests in Bankruptcy Court. In 2001, Ms. Humetewa was promoted to Senior Litigation Counsel/Tribal Liaison and was responsible for relationships between the 21 Indian tribal governments and the U.S. Attorney’s Office and for oversight of the Victim/Witness Program. She is considered a national expert in Indian Country issues and has instructed law enforcement and prosecutors in federal criminal procedure, jurisdiction, child abuse, federal victims’ rights, and laws protecting Native American patrimony, artifacts and grave sites.
Ms. Humetewa received the Executive Office of United States Attorneys’ Director’s Award in 1999 for Superior Performance by an Assistant U. S. Attorney. She served on the Hopi Tribal Appellate Court from 2002-2007, and as an ad hoc member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Native American Subcommittee in 2003.
Ms. Humetewa was nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2006 to sit on the Board of Directors for the Morris K. Udall Foundation. Additionally, Ms. Humetewa is married and is an enrolled member of the Hopi Tribe.
