United States of America v. Violet Jeanee Littlelight

Billings, Montana, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with carjacking resulting in death.

Violet Jeanee Littlelight, 22, arranged for John Doe to pick her up at her residence in Billings. Prior to meeting Doe, Littlelight and co-defendants planned to rob Doe and take his truck. Once they took Doe’s truck, they planned to give it to a drug dealer in Hardin in exchange for drugs or money.

When Littlelight and her co-defendants arrived at the rendezvous point, Doe was suspicious. Littlelight vouched for the co-defendants and told Doe they just needed a ride. Based on her assurances, Doe let all three defendants into his truck.

When they arrived in an alley, Doe was directed to stop when he was stabbed approximately 20 times in his neck, chest, and stomach with a knife. The defendants removed Doe from the driver’s seat and left him in the alley, where he subsequently died from the stab wounds.

The defendants then drove Doe’s truck to Hardin. They changed their clothes and placed the bloody clothes in the truck. They then drove to a house on the Crow reservation. When they arrived, they decided they needed to clean the truck, so they used cleaning products they obtained from the owner of the house and threw their clothes and other incriminating evidence into a burn pit. As they were cleaning the truck, law enforcement officers arrived. The defendants fled, leaving the truck behind.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Colin Rubich and Zeno Baucus prosecuted the case. The FBI, Billings Police Department, and BIA conducted the investigation.

The Defendant elected to plead guilty. Littlelight faces a maximum term of imprisonment of life, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.