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A member of the Ute Indian Tribe has been charged with shooting and killing a man in August.
Trent Sowsonicut, 27, of Ft. Duchesne, Uintah County, was charged in Salt Lake City's U.S. District Court on Wednesday with murder in the second degree on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation, and use and discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a violent crime.
Sowsonicut shot and killed 28-year-old LeRoy Murray in a home in Randlett on Aug. 13 "with malice aforethought," according to the indictment returned by a federal grand jury Wednesday night and information released by FBI spokeswoman Sandra Barker last year.
The maximum penalty for a conviction on second-degree murder is life in prison, according to Melodie Rydalch, with the U.S. Attorney's Office. She said the firearm charge carries a 10-year minimum sentence, which must be served consecutive to any sentence imposed for the murder charge.
Sowsonicut's first court appearance will likely be early next week, Rydalch said.
He has been in tribal custody but will be taken into federal custody within a few days, she said.
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