Charges and names of those arrested in search of Blackfeet Tribal Council Chairman’s home released
The names of the nine people arrested in the search of Blackfeet Tribal Council Chairman Timothy Davis’ home last week that resulted in charges related to fentanyl were released Wednesday morning by the Blackfeet Tribal Prosecutor:
• Timothy Davis, Jr. was charged with criminal sale of dangerous drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia and child endangerment.
• Shawn Davis was charged with one count of criminal sale of dangerous drugs and two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia.
• Brendan Davis and Josiah Davis were each charged with criminal sale of dangerous drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia and child endangerment.
• Westin L. Davis and Odell Davis were each charged with possession of dangerous drugs and child endangerment.
• Billie Jo Blackman was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and child endangerment.
• Murlaina Thomas was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, child endangerment and criminal possession of dangerous drugs.
• Rylee Heavy Runner was charged with two counts of criminal possession of dangerous drugs, one count of child endangerment, one count of possession of dangerous drugs and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.
Chairman Davis confirmed last week to the Daily Montanan that his sons were among those arrested in the search. Chair Davis himself was not arrested and was not home when the FBI and Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services searched his home at 6 a.m. on March 29.
All nine individuals arrested are facing misdemeanor charges in the Blackfeet Tribal Court. While all the charges are misdemeanors now, federal charges could come later.
All individuals pleaded not guilty at their April 1 arraignments and the misdemeanor tribal charges are based on probable cause that came about during the execution of the federal search warrant, Lamson told the Missoulian. He explained to the paper that the four tribal arrest warrants for Timothy Davis Jr., Shawn Davis, Brendan Davis and Josiah Davis were based on probable cause from a previous investigation.
Blackfeet Tribal Court Chief Judge Jeremy Brave-Heart accepted the defendants’ pleas last Friday and will preside over all future proceedings and Blackfeet Tribal Court Associate Judge recused herself from the cases prior to arraignment, Lamson said in the release.
According to the release, Brave-Heart ordered the arraignments to be closed to the public “to prevent overwhelm of court staff due to the high degree of public interest in those proceedings.”
And Lamson laid out a new media policy for future cases.
“Arraignments, convictions, and sentences in Blackfeet Tribal Court are open to the public, unless the presiding judge finds good cause to close them,” he wrote in the release.
In an interview with the Daily Montanan last week, Davis said he was upset about how the FBI handled the search and called it a political stunt. “(The FBI) will come here for something like this on a political figure like myself, but when it comes to a murder … they won’t even come,” he said.
But ultimately, he said he hopes the incident will push his sons towards recovery. “In a way, it was a good thing because now maybe they’ll get open eyes to see this problem they are stuck in … maybe they can get help for it,” he said last week.
On March 23, the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council declared a state of emergency after 17 fentanyl overdoses, and four deaths were reported on the reservation during the week of March 14 alone. As part of the state of emergency, the tribe announced it was setting up a fentanyl task force to work with federal and state jurisdictions and to provide recommendations to the Tribal Business Council on how to respond to the fentanyl emergency.