United States v. Raymond Carl Skeet

Tried to the jury Raymond Carl Skeet (Raymond) was convicted of assault resulting in serious bodily harm in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 113 (f) and 1153. The victim of Raymond’s assault was his brother, Robert Skeet (Robert).

I.

Raymond, Robert, Jasper Walker (Walker) and Robert’s commonlaw wife, Shirley, had spent Saturday morning visiting bars. They returned home to the Navajo Reservation about noon. All were intoxicated except Shirley. There had been some argument between the parties. Upon returning home, Raymond, an ex-Navajo Tribal police officer, went into the hogan and loaded his police revolver. He told Shirley they were laughing about him and he would show what he could do. Robert and Walker were out in front of the hogan working on a pickup truck; Raymond walked out of the hogan and fired three or four shots. Shirley was returning from an outhouse when Raymond pointed the gun at her and told her to “Get over here, damn it.” [Tr. of Ev. p. 136], She called for her husband Robert. He came over and stood next to her, and told Raymond to put the gun away. Raymond had been pointing the gun at Shirley, and when Robert spoke to him, Raymond fired a shot between Robert and…