St. Michael Woman Pleads Guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of North Dakota
April 15, 2011

FARGO—United States Attorney Timothy Q. Purdon announced that on April 15, 2011, Carolynn Bigtrack of St. Michael, North Dakota, pleaded guilty before United States District Court Judge Ralph R. Erickson to a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

Bigtrack, 19, pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, which resulted in a car crash killing Bigtrack’s 16-year-old sister, Mary Feather.

On April 21, 2010, Bigtrack, who had been consuming alcohol, was driving a vehicle on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation. While driving around a curve, Bigtrack went off the road and overcorrected, causing the vehicle to skid sideways into the opposite lane, where the Bigtrack vehicle was stuck broadside by an oncoming vehicle. Mary Feather, who was seated in the front passenger seat of the Bigtrack vehicle, died later in a Devil’s Lake hospital.

The charge of involuntary manslaughter carries a statutory maximum penalty of eight years’ imprisonment.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Indian Affairs Law Enforcement, and the North Dakota Highway Patrol.

Sentencing for Bigtrack has been scheduled for June 30, 2011, in United States District Court in Grand Forks, North Dakota.