United States v. Mitchell Dean Cree

On the morning of June 8, 1997, Mitchell Dean Cree, an American Indian, confronted his wife, who was in the process of obtaining a divorce, in front of her home on Indian trust land in North Dakota. Cree dragged his wife from her car and kicked and beat her repeatedly. Brandishing a knife, Cree forced her into the passenger side of her car and abducted her at knife point to an abandoned house not on Indian lands, where he handcuffed and raped her before returning her to her house. Cree’s wife was treated for injuries including a cut on her face that required seventeen stitches and left a scar…