Delbert Dean Spear Sentenced in U.S. District Court
| U.S. Attorney’s Office August 07, 2013 |
The United States Attorney’s Office announced that during a federal court session in Billings on August 7, 2013 before Senior U.S. District Judge Jack D. Shanstrom, DELBERT DEAN SPEAR, a 25-year-old resident of Crow Agency and an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, was sentenced to a term of:
Prison: 33 months
Special Assessment: $100
Supervised Release: three years
SPEAR was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to assault with a dangerous weapon.
In an offer of proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lori Harper Suek, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On October 6, 2012, law enforcement responded to the scene of a stabbing outside of Crow Agency, within the exterior boundaries of the Crow Indian Reservation. An adult male victim had been stabbed approximately seven times in the torso with a knife. The victim was life-flighted to Billings for medical care.
The victim reported that he and a group of people, including SPEAR, were drinking and driving together until the car ran out of gas. Everyone continued drinking until, at some point, the victim and SPEAR started arguing. Both got out of the car, and then SPEAR came at the victim with a knife as he stood beside the car. SPEAR stabbed him multiple times in the chest area until he stumbled and fell. SPEAR then stabbed him in the back area. After the stabbing, the victim walked to a house where he received help.
When questioned, SPEAR admitted that he stabbed the victim and, in a handwritten statement, wrote that he stabbed the victim seven times.
The victim suffered two stab wounds to the right lower chest that deflated his lung and hit his liver, four stab wounds to his right shoulder area, and one stab wound to his right triceps area.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the “truth in sentencing” guidelines mandate that SPEAR will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, SPEAR does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for “good behavior.” However, this reduction will not exceed 15 percent of the overall sentence.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.