Man Found Guilty of Murder While Within Indian Country

Salt Lake City, Utah – A federal jury convicted a Utah man yesterday for murder in the second degree while within Indian Country and use, carry and discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

According to court documents and the evidence presented at trial, Perry Maryboy, 59, of Bluff, Utah, unlawfully shot and killed another man while within Indian Country on April 13, 2018. Court documents allege Maryboy, who was parked on the side of the road at the intersection of Country Road 443 and Summerhouse Road, escalated an argument with the victim after being told to leave the area by the victim, who drove up behind him. Maryboy exited his truck and grabbed a revolver. He fired two shots, each allegedly intended as warning shots, but the second shot struck the victim in the back of the head. The victim died on scene in front of his common law wife and her 7-year-old child. Maryboy then fled the scene in his truck.

“The defendant acted with complete recklessness,” said Assistant United States Attorney, Mark Hirata, for the District of Utah, during trial. “If firing a bullet to the back of a person’s head isn’t a crime of violence, I don’t know what is.”

Sentencing is scheduled for August 4, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. before U.S. District Court Judge David Nuffer at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse.

U.S. Attorney, Trina A. Higgins for the District of Utah made the announcement.    

The case was investigated jointly by the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office's Monticello Resident Agency, Navajo Nation Police Department and Navajo Nation Criminal Investigations.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys, Mark Y. Hirata, Angela Reddish-Day, and Stephen Dent are prosecuting the case.