Two Redby Men Indicted for Murder

Two men from the town of Redby were indicted today in federal court in Minneapolis in connection with the November 3, 2010, killing of a man and the wounding of two others on the Red Lake Indian Reservation. Donald Leigh Clark, Jr., age 22, and Cruze Anthony White, age 22, were charged with one count of second degree murder, two counts of assault with intent to commit murder, one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, and one count of discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. Clark was arrested on Saturday. White remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous.

The indictment alleges that on November 3, 2010, the defendants killed Julian Keith DeMarrias while assaulting DeMarrias’s brother and another man. According to a law enforcement affidavit filed in the case, the Red Lake Tribal Police Department responded to a reported shooting and found three adult men in and around a vehicle, all with gunshot wounds. They were taken to Indian Health Services for treatment, where Julian DeMarrias was pronounced dead.

The three men met Clark and White outside a store. The men allegedly exited their vehicle, at which time Clark and White exited their own vehicle with assault rifles and began shooting. One victim was shot three times, while a second was shot six times. At the scene, police allegedly found 11 7.62 millimeter shell casings along with five expended shells from a 12-gauge shotgun. According to a police report, on October 15, 2010, Clark and White pointed a sawed-off shotgun at DeMarrias’s sister, inquiring about the whereabouts of DeMarrias’s brothers. On November 10, 2010, one week after the shooting, police found Clark’s vehicle abandoned in an old graveyard in Redby.

Clark was arrested in Redby on January 15, 2010. Law enforcement found him hiding in the backseat of a vehicle, under a blanket.

If convicted, Clark and White face a potential maximum penalty of life in prison on the murder charge, 20 years on each assault with intent to commit murder count, 10 years on the assault with a dangerous weapon count and a 10-year consecutive sentence on the discharge of a firearm count. All sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Red Lake Tribal Police Department, with assistance from the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Headwaters Safe Trails Task Force, and the U.S. Marshals Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clifford B. Wardlaw.

Because the Red Lake Indian Reservation is a federal jurisdiction reservation, some of the crimes that occur there are investigated by the FBI in conjunction with the Red Lake Tribal Police Department. Those cases are prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

An indictment is a determination by a grand jury that there is probable cause to believe that offenses have been committed by a defendant. A defendant, of course, is presumed innocent until he or she pleads guilty or is proven guilty at trial.