Native American Gets Life for Killing Sons
In a case that tested the sovereign rights of Native Americans, a member of Florida’s Miccosukee tribe received a life prison sentence for killing his two young sons by driving their mother’s car into a canal with the boys asleep in the back seat.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Leon Firtel gave Kirk Billie, 32, two life sentences for drowning sons Kurt, 5, and Keith, 3, in June 1997.
Billie was convicted on Feb. 22 on two counts of second-degree murder in a case that developed into a legal war between Florida and the Miccosukee tribe, which said it did not recognize the state’s authority over its members.
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