Source: US FBI
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced today that David Allen Lee, age 44, of Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, was found guilty by a federal jury of one count of Second Degree Murder in Indian Country, punishable by up to life in prison.
The jury trial began with testimony on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, and concluded, on Thursday, June 5, 2025, with the guilty verdict.
During the trial, the United States presented evidence that on July 2, 2024, Lee stabbed a Tahlequah resident in the chest with a knife at the victim’s residence. Lee waited to call 911 for several hours after the victim’s death and barricaded himself inside the residence before finally surrendering to police. The crime occurred in Cherokee County, within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
The guilty verdict was the result of an investigation by the Tahlequah Police Department, the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Honorable Ronald A. White, Chief U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the trial and ordered the completion of a presentence report. The sentencing will be scheduled following completion of the report. Lee will remain in custody of the United States Marshals until sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin Gross and Patrick Flanigan represented the United States.