Sentences handed down for child abuse on Pine Ridge Reservation

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

A child abuse case on the Pine Ridge Reservation has resulted in sentences for a woman and her sister as other defendants await action.

Darcel Rae Featherman, who is a citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, was sentenced to three years of probation after pleading guilty to one count of felony child abuse and neglect. She admitted that she left her two daughters in the care of relatives on the reservation, where they were found so malnourished that they weighed far less than children their ages.

The girls, ages 2 and 3 at the time, were "emaciated and appeared to be starving" when they were found in November 2016, an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in an affidavit in federal court.

"Both children weighed approximately thirteen pounds and were likely to have died within several days had they not been found," a more recent factual basis stated.

According to the document, Featherman knew her children was unsafe with her relatives. Her sister was a "methamphetamine user and an alcoholic" and her mother was a "life-long alcoholic with anger issues," it stated.

The sister, Darshan Featherman, received a far more harsher sentence of 10 years after pleading guilty to felony child abuse and neglect. She admitted she failed to feed the girls and knew they were being deprived of nourishment.

"Dr. Mueller stated that the children were extremely emaciated, similar to prisoners of concentration camps during World War U, that they had been starved over a period of time, and that they would have passed from chronic starvation had they not been found," another factual basis stated, citing a physician who treated the girls at a hospital in South Dakota.

The girls' grandmother, Roberta Featherman, is also facing charges in connection with their treatment. But a psychological evaluation found that she might not be able to understand the proceedings, federal prosecutors said last fall. She has continued to undergo "testing and evaluation" at a federal medical facility in Texas as recently as January, according to court documents.

Five other people are being charged and await movement on their cases. Harold Red Owl, Terry Featherman, Tressa Means Featherman, Jeff Shoulders and Rainbow Spoonhunter are all accused of abusing the girls, with Red Owl facing more serious charges of assault the children.

Of those defendants, Terry Featherman is seeking to have his case severed from the others. A ruling has not been issued on the request, which the government is opposing.

"Mr. Featherman had been a short-term, sporadic guest in the basement of the home prior to the discovery of the girls,'" his attorney wrote in February. "There is absolutely no evidence Mr. Featherman had any direct interaction with the girls."

Officers from the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety were the first on the scene on November 11, 2016. They responded to reports of a fight at Roberta Featherman's home in Potato Creek, a community on the reservation. That's where the girls were found.