Johnston County Resident Pleads Guilty To Murder In Indian Country

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Cecil Browning Higginbotham, age 32, of Mannsville, Oklahoma, entered a guilty plea to an Information charging him with one-count of Murder in Indian Country – Second Degree.

The Information alleged that on August 10, 2022, Higginbotham unlawfully killed the victim with malice aforethought.  At the plea hearing, Higginbotham admitted to pushing the victim to the ground, knocking her unconscious, and dragging her inside his residence.  He then repeatedly hit and kicked the victim, causing fatal blunt force trauma to her head and neck.  The crime occurred in Johnston County, within the boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The charges arose from an investigation by the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office, the Dickson Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Honorable Jason A. Robertson, U.S. Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report. Higginbotham was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal pending sentencing.

Assistant United States Attorneys T. Cameron McEwen and Caila M. Cleary represented the United States.