8th Circuit orders stiff sentence for Red Lake man

Thursday, May 3, 2007  

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a federal judge to impose a stiffer sentence on a Red Lake Ojibwe man who admitted to dealing drugs on the reservation.

The 8th Circuit said the judge was wrong to sentence Todd Douglas Miller, 26, to home detention and probation. Miller pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting a conspiracy to distribute cocaine on the reservation.

The court said the sentence fell too far out of the federal sentencing guidelines. Miller could now face 37 to 46 months in prison.

U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis had ordered the detention and probation because he said Miller had already spent nearly a year in jail. He also said Miller was turning his life around.

Minnesota is a Public Law 280 state except for the Red Lake Reservation.

Get the Story:
Stiffer sentence ordered in drug case (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 5/3)
pwlat

Court Decision:
US v. MIller (May 2, 2007)

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