×

Dallas Chase, Dunseith, acquitted on federal assault charges

Turtle Mountain tribal police officer acquitted of assault charges

A long-time tribal police officer for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa was found innocent of assaulting his girlfriend last year during a federal jury trial in Bismarck on Thursday.

Dallas Chase, 31, of Dunseith, had been charged with assault resulting in bodily injury and assault resulting in substantial bodily injury to an intimate partner, according to his defense attorney, Kyle Craig.

The charges had stemmed from an incident on Nov. 25, 2017. Chase and his girlfriend had been out with a group celebrating Chase’s birthday at area bars. After the bars closed, the group went to a restaurant located in the old Jolly’s building in Belcourt. Craig said the girlfriend fell on the icy parking lot while she was drunk and chipped her two front teeth. Chase had followed her to make sure she was all right and ended up being charged with assaulting the girlfriend. In a complaint affidavit filed with the court, FBI agent Amy Chandler alleged that Chase had engaged in domestic violence against his girlfriend and a friend allegedly told the woman that Chase would lose his job if she said he assaulted her.

The jury took nine hours to acquit Chase on Thursday, said Craig.

Chase, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, had originally been indicted in November 2017 with the assault resulting in bodily injury charge and then the prosecution obtained a second grand jury indictment in June of this year on the second charge of assault to an intimate partner.

Craig said the case was odd because normally a case of this nature would not end up in federal court. Craig said it is also unusual for a case to go to trial in federal court, since most cases are resolved with plea deals before they go to trial, and it is even more unusual for a federal jury trial to result in an acquittal. About 93 percent of the time, a federal jury trial results in a conviction.

Craig said Chase has had a hard year and was placed on unpaid administrative leave from the police force. He is well-liked at the local level, he said.

Chase was defended by Craig, who toook the first chair in the case, and by Robert Ackre of the Ackre and Craig Law Firm.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today