Home Salt Lake City Press Releases 2009 Dallas James Walker Sentenced in U.S. District Court
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Dallas James Walker Sentenced in U.S. District Court

U.S. Attorney’s Office January 29, 2009
  • District of Montana (406) 657-6101

Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Great Falls, on January 29, 2009, before U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon, DALLAS JAMES WALKER, a 21-year-old resident of Fort Belknap, appeared for sentencing. WALKER was sentenced to a term of:

  • Prison: 78 months
  • Special Assessment: $100
  • Supervised Release: 3 years

WALKER was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter.

In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:

On March 30, 2008, at approximately 11:15 p.m., Fort Belknap Tribal Police officers on patrol found the victim, D.J.A., lying in a pool of blood in the driveway of WALKER'S residence in the Rodeo Housing complex, which is located within the exterior boundaries of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.

On March 31, 2008, when initially questioned, WALKER denied stabbing D.J.A. and then said that D.J.A. had pulled out a knife while they were fighting and that he took the knife away from D.J.A. and stabbed D.J.A. in self-defense. WALKER then assisted the FBI in locating the knife used in the stabbing and the FBI was able to determine that the knife belonged to WALKER. When confronted with this information, WALKER admitted the knife was his and that he stabbed D.J.A. in order to avoid losing the fight.

Other testimony would have been presented by WALKER'S brother, who witnessed the fight between WALKER and D.J.A. and a Forensic Examiner in the FBI's DNA Analysis Unit who would have testified that D.J.A.'s DNA was found on clothing worn by WALKER.

The doctor who performed D.J.A.'s autopsy would have testified that D.J.A. died as the result of five stab wounds, including one to his head.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that WALKER will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, WALKER does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebekah J. French prosecuted the case for the United States.

The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fort Belknap Tribal Police.

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