Beating suspect in jail

By Steve Miller
Rapid City Journal

HOT SPRINGS - A suspect facing an attempted murder charge stemming from a fight last June in Hot Springs is in Fall River County Jail after his arrest Friday in Rapid City.

Dakota Garnier, 19, is scheduled for an initial court appearance on Thursday, April 6, in front of 7th Circuit Judge Thomas Trimble on attempted murder and aggravated assault charges.

He is being held on a $200,000 cash or surety bond.

Garnier and his brother, Dirk Garnier, 20, are accused of severely beating Matthew Pepin, 18, by hitting him in the head with a baseball bat and kicking him after he fell to the ground.

The brothers had been fugitives since the fight last June involving two groups. Both men fled to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to avoid prosecution in state court, according to Fall River County State's Attorney Lance Russell.

Dakota Garnier was arrested at a Rapid City medical clinic after authorities received a tip that he would leave the reservation and come to the clinic for treatment of a broken leg. Garnier is charged with attempted murder, a class 2 felony, and aggravated assault, a class 3 felony, for the June 2, 2005, beating.

Russell said a warrant is still out for the arrest of Dirk Garnier on an aggravated assault charge. Russell said Monday that authorities believe Dirk Garnier remains on the reservation.

After the Garnier brothers fled to the reservation, Gov. Mike Rounds, at Russell's request, asked Oglala Sioux Tribe President Cecelia Fire Thunder to extradite the two men, both tribal members. Fire Thunder said she would not do so unless the state and tribe agreed to an extradition compact. The state and tribe have talked periodically on the issue since.

A group that advocates on behalf of Lakota defendants has urged Fire Thunder not to extradite the Garnier brothers, contending that they were the victims, not the perpetrators, in the fight.

Another man who was accused in the beating was acquitted by a Fall River County jury in December.