Minnesota man sentenced to 37 years for killing Red Lake police officer

BEMIDJI - David Brian Donnell Jr., who fatally shot Red Lake tribal police officer Ryan Bialke in July 2021, was sentenced to 37 years in prison on Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court here - a shorter stay than the life imprisonment Bialke's family wanted.

Before Chief U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim delivered the sentence, 17 of Bialke's friends, family members and former colleagues provided victim impact statements - some sad, some angry, some listing the milestones where Bialke has already been missed. His daughter started elementary school; his sons were baptized. Deer hunting season has come and gone.

Donnell's supporters and those grieving Bialke sat in tightly packed rows - in some cases mingling. Deputies from the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office lined two walls of the courtroom.

https://www.startribune.com/northern-minnesota-man-sentenced-to-37-years-for-killing-red-lake-tribal-police-officer/600242327/