Federal Indictments Filed Against James Ernest Lespier and Richard Delano Huskey
Defendant Lespier Charged with Murder in Relation to May 18, 2010 Shooting on the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Reservation, and Defendant Huskey Charged with Marijuana Distribution Conspiracy
| U.S. Attorney’s Office June 09, 2010 |
ASHEVILLE, NC—U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins of the Western District of North Carolina; Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, Charlotte Division; and Ben Reed, Chief of the Cherokee Indian Police Department, today announced that James Ernest Lespier, 31, of Cherokee, an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, has been indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in Asheville on one count alleging murder in connection with a fatal shooting which allegedly took place on the reservation on May 18, 2010. Lespier is also charged in a second criminal count with use of and carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.
Also announced today by U.S. Attorney Tompkins and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement, U.S. Department of Interior, Richard Delano Huskey, 51, of Whitter (Jackson County) North Carolina, also an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, has been indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in Asheville on a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, following execution of a search warrant on his residence on May 6, 2010.
According to information contained in official court documents, James Ernest Lespier, 31, is charged in a federal bill of indictment with one count of murder and an additional count alleging a federal firearms violation. If convicted, he faces a maximum statutory penalty of imprisonment for life. Huskey, charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana was arrested at his home located at 7 Blue Spruce Drive in Whittier, NC on May 6, 2010 following the execution of a search warrant on his residence. If convicted, Huskey also faces a maximum term of life in prison. Both defendants are presently pending trial while in local federal custody.
The cases are being handled for the government by Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Gast of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville.
The public is reminded that federal bills of indictment contain mere allegations and that a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
In a separate case, the U.S. Attorney announced that six defendants, previously charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana in Jackson County have each entered pleas of guilty as charged. According to the indictment in that case, Albert Espinoza, Gary Robert Fronrath, Jonathan Thad Lackey, Jaime Martinez, Billy Michael Wayne Rhinehart, and Marcus Cody Waldroup were all charged with conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute in Jackson County, NC over the period from January 1, 2008 until July 27, 2009. Each defendant faces a maximum statutory penalty of life imprisonment on the one count of conspiracy.
This case was investigated by agents and officers of ATF, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Cherokee Indian Police Department, NC State Bureau of Investigation, and Swain County Sheriff’s Office. All of the defendants are currently awaiting sentencing in U.S. District Court.