HELENA – A former Blackfeet tribal councilwoman wants to withdraw her guilty plea to federal charges of harboring a fugitive and lying to authorities.
Cheryl Little Dog’s new attorney filed the request Monday. Federal public defender Anthony Gallagher says Little Dog’s previous attorney pressured her to plead guilty and she did not have enough time to consider the consequences.
Little Dog says she wants the case to go to trial. U.S. District Judge Brian Morris did not make an immediate ruling.
U.S. marshals and FBI agents were searching last October for a man who was wanted in South Dakota on charges of molesting an 8-year-old girl.
Prosecutors say Little Dog initially told authorities that Frank Gallardo was not in her home. She later gave the officers permission to search, and they found him in a crawl space.