Information: Federal Court Arraignments

The United States Attorney’s Office announced that those persons listed below were arraigned before the U.S. Magistrate and the indictments handed down by the Grand Jury unsealed.

Appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ostby in Billings on February 26, 2015, and entering pleas of Not Guilty were:

• WILLIAM MAURICE SMITH, a 56-year-old resident of Billings, appeared on charges of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.  If convicted of the most serious charges contained in the indictment, SMITH faces life in prison, $10,000,000 in fines and 5 years supervised release.  The case was investigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  PACER Case Reference:  15-15

• CARA M. VOLMER, a 38-year-old resident of Laurel, appeared on charges of possession of a controlled substance.  If convicted of the charge contained in the information, VOLMER faces 1 year in prison, $100,000 in fines and 1 year supervised release.  The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration  PACER Case Reference:  15-01

Appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Johnston in Great Falls on February 25, 2015 and entering pleas of Not Guilty were:

• EMERSON PAUL BIRDTAIL II, a 29-year-old resident of Harlem, appeared on charges of assault resulting in serious bodily injury.  If convicted of the charge contained in the indictment, BIRDTAIL faces 10 years in prison, $250,000 in fines and 3 years supervised release.  The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  PACER Case Reference:  15-09

If any of the above cases are of interest to your media organization and the community it serves, we encourage you to monitor the progress of the case regularly through the U.S. District Court calendar and the PACER system so that you stay current and not miss any important developments in the case.

To establish a PACER account, which will allow you to review documents filed in the case, please go to, http://www.pacer.gov/register.html. To access the district court’s calendar, please go to https://ecf.mtd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/PublicCalendar.pl.