The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced earlier this week that Neil Shai Cameron Lewis, 28, of Okmulgee County, was sentenced to 18 1/2 years in prison for Murder in Indian Country – Second Degree.

The charges arose from investigations by the Muscogee Nation Lighthorse Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Lewis pleaded guilty to Murder in Indian Country Second Degree on Sept. 30, 2021. The investigation of the case revealed Lewis beat the victim to death with a television and a coat rack after an evening of drinking at the victim’s apartment. Police investigating an Emergency Medical Services call discovered the victim lying on the floor of his apartment and Lewis covered in the victim’s blood.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma prosecuted this case because the defendant is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe and the crimes occurred in Okmulgee County, within the boundaries of the Muscogee Nation Reservation.

The Honorable Ronald A. White, U.S. District Judge, presided over the hearings in Muskogee. Lewis was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve his sentence of incarceration.