A 24-year old Red Lake man pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to second-degree murder in connection to the Sept. 30 shooting death of Harley James Sayers.
Jacob John Lussier, also known as Jacob Martin, is expected to be sentenced to federal prison for 24 years and three months, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Entering his plea before U.S. District Court Judge Michael J. Davis, Lussier admitted he had shot Sayers twice with a 12-guage shotgun, according to the press release.
Lussier was originally charged with first-degree murder for fatally shooting Sayers, 23, of Red Lake.
According to the criminal complaint from U.S. District Court, Lussier ordered Sayers out of a vehicle behind a home in the Bartons Camp area of the Red Lake Reservation. As Sayers was getting out of the vehicle, Lussier shot Sayers and fled the scene in a 1988 GMC Jimmy.
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Sayers' body was found on Sept. 30 after an individual contacted the Red Lake Department of Public Safety to report someone had been shot.
Three days later, Lussier's vehicle was found by Red Lake Police abandoned in the Little Rock district of the reservation, according an FBI news release.
Lussier was on the run from authorities for more than a week before turning himself in at the Beltrami County Jail on Oct. 8, according to the FBI.
