Court denies appeal by man convicted in Spirit Lake Reservation killings

Fargo, N.D. - A federal appeals court has rejected the complaints of a man convicted of killing his niece and nephew in a case that brought attention to numerous reports of child abuse on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation.

A jury in September 2013 convicted Valentino "Tino" Bagola on two counts of felony murder for the May 2011 slayings of 9-year-old Destiny Jane Shaw-DuBois and her 6-year-old brother, Travis Lee DuBois Jr. Bagola was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Bagola's lawyers argued in the appeal that the jury instructions were unfair, there was insufficient evidence to convict him for one of the counts of felony murder, and the judge wrongly limited cross-examination of Travis DuBois Sr.

http://www.crookstontimes.com/article/20150807/NEWS/150809660