Broken Bow Resident Sentenced For Murder

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Devon Leroy Battiest, age 43, of Broken Bow, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 168 months in prison for one count of Murder in Indian Country - Second Degree.

The charge arose from investigations by the Broken Bow Police Department, the Choctaw Nation Lighthorse Tribal Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On January 17, 2024, Battiest pleaded guilty to the charge. According to investigators, on May 6, 2023, Battiest entered a Broken Bow residence armed with a firearm, then shot and killed a guest at the residence.

The crimes occurred in McCurtain County, within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable Keith Starrett, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, sitting by assignment, presided over the hearing in Muskogee. Battiest will remain in custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant United States Attorney Richard J. Lorenz represented the United States.