Alison J. Ramsdell U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota
A woman from Eagle Butte, South Dakota, has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for voluntary manslaughter. U.S. District Judge Eric C. Schulte handed down the sentence to Jaclyn Blue Coat, age 26, on August 11, 2025.
Blue Coat will also serve three years of supervised release after her prison term and must pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. She was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2024 and pleaded guilty on May 15, 2025.
According to court records, Blue Coat stabbed the father of her children in the left upper chest during an argument outside his residence in Dupree, South Dakota. The incident occurred on September 24, 2024, within the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation and resulted in his death.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case under the Major Crimes Act, which requires that certain violent crimes committed in Indian Country be prosecuted at the federal level rather than by state authorities (https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/blog/major-crimes-act-140-years-later).
The FBI and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Services investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne Venhuizen served as prosecutor.
“Blue Coat was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service,” according to a statement from United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell.
