This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A member of the Ute Indian Tribe has pleaded guilty to killing another member on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation in northeastern Utah.
Grant Hurbert Checora pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a man identified in documents only as E.C. In a plea agreement, Checora admitted that he "acted recklessly with extreme disregard for human life by killing E.C. while in a sudden quarrel." The agreement calls for a five-year prison sentence.
Checora was first charged with second-degree murder, attempted murder and two counts of use of a firearm during a violent crime. Details were scarce but he also allegedly wounded another man on June 11, 2014 in Fort Duchesne.
On the same day as the shooting, Checora posted a message on his Facebook page saying he was going "get" someone in Fort Duchesne for assaulting acquaintances:
"Calling all homies to fort Duchesne [n-word] gonna get it for hitting my women and my brother and sister in law. We gonna post up for these dumb [n-word] who wanna jump me and my family. If y'all got my back."
No sentencing date was immediately set.
Fort Duchesne is located about 15 miles east of Roosevelt, in Uintah County. The reservation, in the Uinta Basin, is the second largest in the United States, covering more than 4.5 million acres.