Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Tahlequah Resident Pleads Guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter and Federal Firearm Crime
MUSKOGEE, Okla. – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Kiah John Pritchett, 38, of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter in Indian Country and one count of felon in possession of a firearm.
The charges arose from an investigation by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Pritchett was charged with unlawfully killing the victim without malice on July 4, 2021, and with unlawful possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon.
The crimes occurred in Cherokee County, within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
The Honorable Gerald L. Jackson, U.S. Magistrate Judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, took the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report. Pritchett was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals pending sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jarrod Leaman and Patrick Flanigan represented the United States.
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