Redby, Minn., woman convicted for role in shootout

A woman involved in the deadly shootout on a Redby, Minn., street Nov. 3, 2010, was convicted Tuesday in a federal court in Duluth of being an accessory after the fact.

Jerilee Jane Head, girlfriend of the shooter, Donald Clark Jr., 23, was found guilty by a jury of trying to hide Clark, who eluded investigators for more than two months after the shooting.

She's the third and final person convicted in the incident that left one man dead and two of his brothers wounded. Everyone involved lived in Redby, which is about 30 miles north of Bemidji, on the shores of Lower Red Lake on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

Clark was arrested Jan. 15, 2011, when investigators found him hiding under a blanket in Head's car in Redby while she tried to distract the officers.

Head, 22, faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

According to an official in the U.S. attorney's office in Minneapolis, Clark, 23, and Cruz Anthony White, 23, pleaded guilty in November to charges in the shooting of three brothers on a Redby street that stemmed from a long feud.

All five men brandished guns during the incident, but apparently only Clark fired, hitting all three brothers, killing one, according to his indictment. Head had been riding with Clark and White until just before the shooting and she was involved in the feud leading to it, according to the indictment.

Clark pleaded guilty in November to one count of firing a gun during the commission of a crime of violence against Julian Keith DeMarrias, 22, who died a few hours after the shooting, but not before fingering Clark as his killer.

DeMarrias' brothers, Jerrick DeMarrias, 19, and Orland Spears, 19, were wounded in the shooting.

White surrendered Jan. 24, 2011, and pleaded guilty in November to one count of voluntary manslaughter for aiding Clark.

Clark faces a mandatory 10-year prison term, with a possible maximum of life. White faces a maximum penalty of 15 years.

All three await sentencing by U.S. District Judge John Tunheim.

All involved in the incident are members of the Red Lake Tribe of Chippewas and because it happened on the reservation, federal officials investigated and prosecuted the crime.

Reach Lee at (701) 780-1237; (800) 477-6572, ext. 237; or send email to slee@gfherald.com .