September 4, 2009

UTAH MAN SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON FOR ASSAULT ON SOUTHERN UTE RESERVATION

DENVER – James Murray, Jr., age 26, an enrolled member of the Northern Ute Indian Tribe of Utah, was sentenced last week by U.S. District Court Judge John L. Kane to serve 70 months (nearly 6 years) in federal prison for assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and assault with a dangerous weapon.  The sentence is to be served concurrently with state sentences imposed in La Plata County.  Following his prison sentence, Murray was ordered to spend 3 years on supervised release.  He was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $47,166.44 to the victims.  Murray, who appeared at the hearing in custody, was remanded. 

James Murray, Jr. was charged by Criminal Complaint on July 10, 2008.  He was then indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on August 6, 2008.   The U.S. Attorney’s Office obtained a superseding indictment on February 24, 2009.  Murray pled guilty before Judge Kane on June 5, 2009.  He was sentenced by the Judge on August 28, 2009.

According to the stipulated facts contained in the defendant’s plea agreement, on June 29, 2008, at approximately 1:19 a.m., the Southern Ute Police Department received a 911 call to a residence on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in Ignacio, Colorado.  The caller reported that James Murray, the defendant, had hit two people with a baseball bat.  Upon arriving at the scene, police officers found two victims bleeding from the head.  Both were transported to Mercy Medical Center in Durango, Colorado.  One of the victims was then air lifted from Mercy Medical Center to Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colorado suffering serious bodily injury.

This case was investigated by the Southern Ute Police Department.

Murray was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dondi Osborne, Todd Norvell, and Robert Mydans.

####