8th Circuit affirms 48-year-sentence for Indian juvenile

Monday, October 31, 2011  

A young member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe deserves a 48-year-sentence for murder, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals said in a split decision today.

Bryan Austin Boneshirt was 17 when he was indicted as a juvenile for first-degree murder. He agreed to plead guilty as an adult to second-degree murder for the death of Marquita Walking Eagle on November 1, 2009.

While awaiting sentencing, Boneshirt and other Indian defendants plotted to escape from jail. That led the federal government to recommend a sentence of at least 360 months in prison.

However, Judge Roberto A. Lange went well above the lower end of the guidelines and imposed a 576-month sentence. Among other factors, he cited a need to protect the public from Boneshirt, whom he acknowledged came from a "unfair" and "very troubled" childhood.

On appeal, Boneshirt challenged a provision in his plea agreement that purported to waive his rights. The 8th Circuit agreed that the provision shouldn't be enforced because Lange never discussed it in open court.

"The court never mentioned his right to appeal or a waiver of that right; the government does not dispute this fact," the decision stated.

But the 8th Circuit refused to strike down the 48-year-sentence. The court said Boneshirt failed to show how Lange made procedural errors in arriving at the harsh punishment.

"Boneshirt's sentence may be longer than other sentences for the same crime, but that, by itself, does not establish that the district court abused its discretion," the court said in the 2-1 decision.

Judge Myron H. Bright authored a dissent in which he "strongly" objected to the sentence. He said Boneshirt's background, his status as a juvenile at the time of the crime and the role alcohol played should have been taken into account.

"Like many children born and raised in Indian Country, Boneshirt suffered abuse beginning in infancy," Bright observed.

Bright said the need to protect the public from Boneshirt shouldn't have been a major factor in the sentence. He noted that Indian males only have a life expectancy of 58 years -- Boneshirt won't get out of prison until he is 65 years old.

"In sum, in failing to give fair and adequate consideration to a juvenile’s lack of judgment and the likelihood of change for the better of a youthful offender, especially in light of Boneshirt’s upbringing, and in placing too much emphasis on a plan to escape, the district court was substantively unreasonable in weighing the facts and sentenced this defendant far more harshly than a comparable adult criminal," Bright wrote.

8th Circuit Decision:
Boneshirt v. US (October 31, 2011)