Guilty On All Counts, Jury Convicts Fort Duchesne Man for 2018 Murder

Salt Lake City, Utah – On August 18, 2023, a federal jury convicted a Utah man of murder in the second degree and other related charges. After a five-day trial, Brandon Redfoot was found guilty on all five counts charged in the indictment. Charges include murder in the second degree while within Indian Country, assault with a dangerous weapon while within Indian Country, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

According to court documents and the evidence presented at trial, Brandon Redfoot, 28, of Fort Duchesne, Utah, shot and killed another man, on June 7, 2018. According to testimony at trial, Redfoot was in a physical altercation with the victim outside a store in Randlett, Utah. After the fight, and after the two men parted ways in separate vehicles, Redfoot told the driver of the vehicle he was in to turn around and drive back in the direction the victim had traveled. After the driver refused, Redfoot pulled out a firearm, later identified as a KelTec Sub-2000 9mm folding rifle, and threatened the driver to turn around by firing the gun inside the vehicle. The driver complied, and ultimately arrived outside a residence where Redfoot spotted the victim. Redfoot fired at least twenty-nine shots in the direction of the victim and others, ultimately hitting the victim in the back of the head and killing him. Redfoot faces a maximum statutory sentence of imprisonment of up to life.

FBI

Sentencing is scheduled for October 27, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. in courtroom 3.4 before U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City. 

U.S. Attorney, Trina A. Higgins for the District of Utah made the announcement. 

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Vernal Resident Agency and investigators from the Ute Tribe. 
 
Assistant United States Attorneys Michael J. Thorpe and Sam Pead of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah presented the case at trial. 

FBI

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.