Cops and Courts

A man convicted of murdering a couple  just north of Lodge Pole appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in Great Falls and was given back-to-back life prison terms.

Elwyn “Jay” Has The Eagle, 26, of Lodge Pole, was arrested in December 2008 on a slew of tribal charges, including two counts each of murder, aggravated assault and elder abuse. The charges were later transferred to federal court, and Has The Eagle was found guilty after a 2 1/2 day trial.

The victims, Calvin Snell, 69, and Doreen Manzanares, 62, were found dead in their beds on Dec. 17, 2008, stabbed multiple times in the upper torso and neck. Has The Eagle became a suspect in the stabbings after a neighbor saw him enter the couple’s house on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and leave a few minutes later in their vehicle.

Has The Eagle led authorities on a high-speed chase before he barricaded himself in his home. He was arrested after officers forced their way into the residence.

Has The Eagle has a long criminal history. Two weeks before Manzanares’ and Snell’s deaths, he posted $50,000 bail and was released from the Phillips County jail. He was being held on charges of attempted deliberate homicide for allegedly bludgeoning a man in the head with a rock. Has The Eagle’s run-ins with authorities date back to when he was 20 years old.

The federal charges are: second degree murder of Calvin Snell; first degree murder of Doreen Manzanares with malice aforethought and with premeditation; first degree murder of Calvin Snell with malice aforethought and in perpetration of burglary; first degree murder of Doreen Manzanares with malice aforethought and in perpetration of burglary; and burglary of a house occupied by Calvin Snell and Doreen Manzanares.

Filed under: Uncategorized by admin