Sheena Between Lodges is seen in a photo shared on social media. The Lakota woman was brutally beaten on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and federal authorities have charged one person in connection with the crime. They also say the defendant knows who committed the assault.

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Defendant found guilty in connection with brutal beating of Lakota woman

Monday, April 1, 2019

Sheena Between Lodges was brutally beaten on Pine Ridge Reservation

Attack was instigated by victim's boyfriend and his sister, prosecutors allege

By Kevin Abourezk

A jury has found a Pine Ridge Reservation man who allegedly witnessed the brutal beating of Sheena Between Lodgees in November guilty of lying to a federal agent.

However, the jury couldn’t agree on whether Weldon Two Bulls was guilty of being an accessory after the fact by protecting the people he may have seen commit the crime.

His conviction is the first related to the assault on Between Lodges, who was hospitalized November 5 after being found in her home, beaten and unconscious.

Two Bulls was charged with two federal criminal violations – being an accessory to the crime after the fact and making a false statement to a federal officer – after authorities say he lied about what he witnessed when Between Lodges was beaten on November 2, 2018, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Authorities say Two Bulls allegedly lied to a Bureau of Indian Affairs special agent, saying he was too drunk to remember what happened to Between Lodges, and jurors in a Rapid City courtroom in late March agreed Two Bulls lied about what he saw.

But they became deadlocked on the question of whether Two Bulls was an accessory to the crime after the fact following a two-day trial that saw 11 witnesses testify, including Between Lodges, a neurosurgeon and the BIA agent who interviewed Two Bulls.

In August 2017, Sheena Between Lodges shared a photo of herself and called attention to Savanna Marie Greywind, a Native woman who went missing and was found murdered in North Dakota. Between Lodges was later victimized on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, severely beaten by her boyfriend and his sisters, according to federal prosecutors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cassandra DeCoste also called to the stand Between Lodges’ brother, Elgin Young Bear, and Wylene Two Lance, Young Bear’s wife. Young Bear and Two Lance told jurors that Two Bulls told them that Between Lodges’ boyfriend, Gilbert Lakota, and Lakota’s sister, Lily Larvie, beat her up.

DeCoste also presented photographs of Between Lodges’ injuries, a 911 call and interview transcripts. Two Bulls, Larvie and Lakota did not testify.

The case against Two Bulls was especially interesting because prosecutors have not charged Lakota or Larvie with assaulting Between Lodges.

In motions seeking to quash evidence against her client, public defender Jennifer Albertson argued prosecutors were attempting to convict Two Bulls of lying about an assault that the state has yet to prove even happened.

“In this prosecution, the United States has essentially placed the proverbial cart before the horse – seeking to convict Mr. Two Bulls of being an accessory after the fact to an assault the United States has not proven occurred,” Albertson said.

Between Lodges spent nearly a week in a coma after emergency personnel found her in her home. According to court records, she has no memory of the events that led to her injuries.

After she was found, Oglala Sioux tribal police in Pine Ridge arrested Lakota for outstanding warrants.

Two Bulls faces five years in prison for lying to the BIA agent.