Keller woman sentenced to 10 years

A Keller woman was sentenced July 16 to 120 months and one day in prison for discharging a firearm during a crime committed Oct. 2, 2011.

United States Attorney Michael C. Ormsby, for the Eastern District of Washington, said Leona Sutton, 34, was sentenced for using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault with a deadly weapon.

The Keller woman was sentenced by Judge William Fremming Nielsen, who ordered that after imprisonment she serve three years supervision by the court and pay restitution of $5,796.24.

Sutton is an enrolled member of the Colville Confederated Tribes.

Sutton was convicted of the crimes following a three-day jury trial in federal court in Spokane.

Evidence introduced at trial established that during the evening of Oct. 2, 2011, Sutton shot an individual in the chest with a .22-caliber rifle, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The shooting occurred at the victim’s residence in Keller.

The victim, who survived the shooting, and two other individuals present at the time of the shooting, testified at the trial.

“Crimes of violence will not be tolerated, particularly those crimes occurring on Tribal lands,” Ormsby stated in the press release.

The case was investigated by Tribal Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.