FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
JOHN CHARLES BUFFALO SENTENCED IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings, on October 24, 2007, before U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, JOHN CHARLES BUFFALO, a 38-year-old resident of Crow Agency, appeared for sentencing. BUFFALO was sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 188 months
- Special Assessment: $100
- Supervised Release: 3 years
BUFFALO was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to assault on a federal officer.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On September 21, 2006, BIA law enforcement was notified about a disturbance at the detention center in Crow Agency. BUFFALO, a prisoner at the time, had assaulted three officers when they attempted to take him out of his cell. After receiving this information, BIA interviewed the officers involved. One of the officers was in the process of locking down the trustees at the detention center when BUFFALO started a disturbance with the jail staff and was cursing at the jail staff. BUFFALO was attempting to flood his cell by clogging his toilet. A second officer attempted to assist the first officer, who was attempting to take BUFFALO out of his cell and place him in a restraint chair. Once BUFFALO was out of his cell, he began to resist. When one of the officer's grabbed BUFFALO'S wrist, BUFFALO pulled away and a scuffle ensued. BUFFALO swung at the first officer and hit him several times in the face. BUFFALO then elbowed the second officer in the left side of his rib cage several times. A third officer tried to place a handcuff on BUFFALO, but he continued to wrestle with the officers and he grabbed the third officer's knee as he was taken to the floor and subdued. The third officer, in her attempt to free herself from BUFFALO, hyper-extended her knee.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that BUFFALO will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, BUFFALO 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 Lori Harper Suek prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
