Poteau Resident Sentenced For Murder In Indian Country

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Christian Scott Dunham, age 22, of Poteau, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 293 months in federal prison for the August 2022 killing of his neighbor.

The charges arose from investigations by the Poteau Police Department, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On February 13, 2023, Dunham pleaded guilty to Murder in Indian Country—Second Degree.  According to investigators, in the early morning hours of August 20, 2022, Dunham shot and killed the victim with a .22 caliber revolver.  The crime occurred in Le Flore County, within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable John F. Heil, III, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  Dunham will remain in custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Satter represented the United States.