Red Lake Man Indicted for Involuntary Manslaughter in Connection with 2009 Incident |
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U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota
June 21, 2011
MINNEAPOLIS—Recently in federal court, a 20-year-old Red Lake man was indicted in connection with the death of a teenage girl following an automobile crash that occurred between Redby and Ponemah on August 28, 2009. The indictment charges Kyle Mitchell Lee Hardy with three counts of involuntary manslaughter. Hardy made his initial appearance yesterday in federal court in Duluth.
The indictment alleges that on August 28, 2009, while on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, Hardy, who was drinking while under age, killed the girl without malice while driving recklessly and impaired. According to police reports, Hardy, who was age 18 at the time, attended a party in Redby, and at approximately 1:00 a.m., decided to drive a pickup truck to Ponemah. Two boys and one girl got in the back, or “bed,” of the uncovered truck. Hardy allegedly was driving alongside another vehicle when he approached a curve in the road. His truck went off the road, crashed into a ditch, and the three passengers were ejected. The girl was killed.
If convicted, Hardy faces a potential maximum penalty of eight years in federal prison on each count. All sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge. This case is the result of an investigation by the Red Lake Tribal Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David P. Steinkamp.
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.
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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.