Fort Hall Woman Pleads Guilty to Assault on an Officer
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The following is a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.
POCATELLO -– Somber March, 30, of Fort Hall, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court to assault on an officer, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. March was indicted by the federal grand jury in Pocatello on November 25, 2014.
On or about September 19, 2014, Officer Riley Degnan of the Fort Hall Police Department was dispatched to the intersection of War Bonnet Road and Eagle Road on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation to contact a person identified as Somber March, who had a warrant for her arrest from Fort Hall Tribal Court. Officer Degnan contacted March on War Bonnet Road and found her to be incoherent. He believed her to be under the influence of a controlled substance and attempted to take her into custody on the Tribal Court warrant. As he began to handcuff her, she turned and hit him in the face, knocking Officer Degnan’s sunglasses off. She again tried to grab Officer Degnan and, with the assistance of another officer, was taken to the ground and handcuffed. March was later interviewed and admitted hitting the officer in the face. Under the specific federal law that March pleaded guilty to violating, Fort Hall police officers are considered “federal officers.”
The charge of assault on an officer is punishable by up to eight years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
March is scheduled to be sentenced on August 2, 2016, before Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.
The case was investigated by the Fort Hall Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.