Red Lake Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting, Shooting a Woman

A 25-year-old Red Lake man pled guilty yesterday in federal court in St. Paul to assaulting and shooting a woman near the Redby Post Office on April 29, 2010. Appearing before United States District Court Judge Donovan W. Frank, Joseph Joshua Jackson pled guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon and discharge of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence. He was indicted on June 7, 2010.

In his plea agreement, Jackson admitted that on April 29, he assaulted the woman by kicking her three times and then shooting her in the abdomen. According to a law enforcement affidavit filed in the case, Red Lake tribal police responded to a reported shooting and found the victim outside the Redby Post Office. She claimed Jackson had kicked her in the head and shot her with a pistol. The victim sustained injuries to the head as well as a gunshot wound to her right torso. Jackson was arrested on May 3, 2010, and remains in custody.

For his crimes, Jackson faces a potential mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison on the weapon discharge charge and a potential maximum of 10 years on the assault charge. Judge Frank will determine his sentence at a future hearing, yet to be scheduled.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Red Lake Tribal Police Department, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen B. Schommer and 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.