Fort Hall woman sentenced for assaulting an officer
A Fort Hall woman was sentenced Tuesday for assaulting a officer in September of 2014.
30-year-old Somber March was sentenced to time served, approximately six months of combined federal and tribal time, for assaulting an officer. U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge also ordered she serve three years of supervised release. March pleaded guilty on May 24, 2016.
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 case was investigated by the Fort Hall Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
