Cherry Creek Man Sentenced for Assault and Tampering with Evidence

Acting United States Attorney Dennis R. Holmes announced that a Cherry Creek, South Dakota, man was sentenced for Assault by Striking, Beating, or Wounding and Tampering with Evidence on August 12, 2021, by Chief Judge Roberto A. Lange, U.S. District Court. 

Samuel Francis White Horse, age 33, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $125.  

White Horse was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 9, 2020.  He was convicted after a three-day federal jury trial in Pierre, South Dakota, on June 25, 2021.    

The jury found that on February 12, 2020, White Horse assaulted a man, who crashed his vehicle into White Horse’s yard while suffering from a medical emergency, by punching him in the head.  Jerome White Horse, Jr., the defendant’s father, also used a garden hoe to strike the victim in the head multiple times.  The victim died several days later after suffering from significant bleeding in his brain.  Jerome White Horse, Jr. pled guilty to and was convicted of Voluntary Manslaughter.  After witnessing his father beat the victim with the garden hoe, the defendant took control of the weapon and hid it under the front porch of his home to conceal it from law enforcement.  The garden hoe was recovered during the execution of a search warrant a couple days later and found by the South Dakota Forensic Laboratory to have the victim’s DNA on the blade and Jerome White Horse, Jr.’s DNA on the handle.         

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Services, and the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron J. Cook prosecuted the case.   

White Horse was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service after the sentencing.