Red Lake man indicted for assaulting another Red Lake man

MINNEAPOLIS—Last week in federal court, a 35-year-old Red Lake man was indicted for assaulting another Red Lake man. Thomas Phillip Sayers was charged with one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

The indictment alleges that on October 5, 2011, Sayers assaulted another member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians. Sayers’ alleged assault resulted in serious bodily injury to the man, including a fractured leg and abrasions on his face.

If convicted, Sayers faces a potential maximum penalty of ten years in federal prison. All sentences, of course, are ultimately determined by a federal district court judge. This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Red Lake Tribal Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Calhoun-Lopez. Because the Red Lake Indian Reservation is a federal-jurisdiction reservation, some of the crimes that occur there are investigated by the FBI in conjunction with the Red Lake Tribal Police Department. Those cases are prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

An indictment is a determination by a grand jury that there is probable cause to believe that offenses have been committed by a defendant. A defendant, of course, is presumed innocent until he or she pleads guilty or is proven guilty at trial.