Nelson Ray McKee, Voluntary Manslaughter, NV 2014

Nelson Ray McKee, 45, was convicted by a federal jury in Reno, Nevada, of voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of his wife on New Year’s Eve 2014. The verdict, delivered after a six-day trial, marks the end of a two-year legal pursuit for justice in a case defined by bloodshed, alcohol, and broken trust on the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation.

According to trial testimony, McKee’s wife fled their home and sought help at a neighbor’s house after being stabbed in the chest. She was bleeding heavily and barely able to speak. Neighbors immediately called 9-1-1. By the time emergency responders arrived, she was in critical condition. The woman was rushed to a hospital but died from her injuries, which included a five-inch knife wound that pierced her heart, according to the Washoe County Medical Examiner’s autopsy report.

Law enforcement from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office responded swiftly. Blood trails in the snow led them to McKee’s front door. Inside, they found him in a state of extreme intoxication. Two kitchen knives lay on the table, bottles of whiskey cluttered the room, and blood spatter stained the floor and door frame. He was taken into custody the same night, hours after his wife was pronounced dead.

McKee, a member of the Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of Nevada and Oregon, was indicted on January 28, 2015. His wife, a member of the Te-Moak Tribe of the Western Shoshone, became another tragic statistic in a region plagued by domestic violence on tribal lands. Federal authorities stepped in due to jurisdictional authority over major crimes in Indian Country.

U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden made no apologies in his post-verdict statement. “The defendant will be held accountable for this crime,” Bogden said. “I commend our local, tribal, and federal law enforcement partners and the Assistant U.S. Attorneys for working together collaboratively throughout the investigative and prosecution process and for their commitment in seeking justice for the victim.”

Prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shannon M. Bryant and Carla B. Higginbotham, McKee now faces up to 15 years in federal prison. Sentencing is scheduled for May 15, 2017, before U.S. District Judge Robert C. Jones. No plea deal was reached, and the conviction stands as a rare federal prosecution of domestic violence in a tribal community where justice often stalls.