Durant Resident Sentenced For Felony Assault

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Derek Michael James, age 41, of Durant, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 46 months in prison for one count of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon with Intent to do Bodily Harm in Indian Country.

The charge arose from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Choctaw Nation Lighthorse Police Department.

On July 9, 2025, James pleaded guilty to the charge.  According to investigators, on January 27, 2025, James assaulted the victim with a dangerous weapon, intending to do bodily harm.

The crime occurred in Bryan County, within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable Ronald A. White, Senior Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  James will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan E. Soverly represented the United States.