Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
Dallas James Walker of Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, 21, pleaded guilty in federal court in Great Falls to a charge of voluntary manslaugher stemming from the death of David Azure. Walker originally pleaded not guilty in August to a charge of second-degree murder after a grand jury charged him with intentionally killing Azure with a knife on March 30, at or near the Rodeo Drive Housing Project within the boundaries of Fort Belknap. Walker pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon to the lesser charge this week. Walker, who is in custody, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 29. He faces up to 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. According to the release, Fort Belknap Tribal Police officers on patrol March 30, found Azure lying in a pool of blood in the driveway of Walker’s residence in the Rodeo Housing complex in Fort Belknap. Walker initially denied stabbing Azure, but then said they had been fighting and Azure had pulled a knife. Walker said he took the knife away and stabbed Azure in self defense, the release said. Walker helped FBI agents find the knife used in the stabbing, and the agents determined it belonged to Walker, the release said. After the agents confronted Walker with that information, he admitted that the knife was his and that he had stabbed Azure in order to avoid losing the fight, he said. A doctor who performed the autopsy on Azure was prepared to testify that Azure’s blood was found on Walker’s clothing and that Azure had died as the result of five stab wounds, including one to his head, the release said.
