Nov 30, 2021

2016 Pine Ridge reservation slaying draws 15-year sentence

Posted Nov 30, 2021 4:57 PM

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — One of three men accused in a fatal shooting on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 2016 has been sentenced in federal court after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors.

Twenty-eight-year-old Estevan Baquera was given 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to accessory to first-degree murder in the death of Vinny Brewer outside of the Boys and Girls Club in Pine Ridge.

Prosecutors said Baquera traveled to Pine Ridge with two other men to collect a drug debt from Brewer.

Baquera said making that trip was ”the worst decision of his life,” but he claimed he didn’t know of the plan to kill Brewer.