URL: https://www.indianz.com/News/archives/001412.asp

Friday, September 12, 2003

A federal judge in Montana sentenced ex-Crow tribal chairman Clifford Bird in Ground to 37 months in prison for accepting bribes.

U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull immediately stayed the decision so that Bird in Ground can appeal the sentence. Bird in Ground will ask the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to determine if he can be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea, which his new lawyer says he did not understand due to a limited proficiency in English.

At the sentencing hearing yesterday, Bird in Ground's lawyer sought to reduce his sentence by claiming the former chairman was naive. A relative testified to Bird in Ground's familial obligations but the judge did not determine they were "extraordinary" enough to warrant a lesser punishment.

The 37 months was on the lower end of the sentencing range for the crime, according to The Billings Gazette.

Get the Story:
Birdinground sentenced to 37 months (The Billings Gazette 9/12)

Related Stories:
Judge: Ex-Crow chairman can't withdraw guilty plea (08/28)
Ex-Crow chairman files motion to withdraw guilty plea (05/14)
Ex-Crow chairman can barely read, attorney says (04/11)
Brother of ex-Crow chairman given probation (02/06)
Dismissal in Crow Tribe theft case (11/14)
Guilty plea in tribal theft case (11/13)
Former Crow chairman pleads guilty (10/07)
New indictments in Crow Nation scandal (9/18)
Ex-Crow chairman 'mental' state relevant (9/13)
Crow chairman resigns from post (9/10)
Crow chairman can't handle funds (5/14)
Crow chairman pleads innocent (5/13)
Crow chairman indicted (5/6)

All stories in the Indianz.Com Archive are available for publishing under a Creative Commons License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)