(Billings) – A Billings woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for a fatal shooting on the Crow Indian Reservation. Twenty-seven-year-old Dameka American Horse received the sentence last week from U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters, which will be followed by five years of supervised release. American Horse pleaded guilty in January to second-degree murder and discharging a firearm during a violent crime.
According to court documents, the incident began in late November 2024 when American Horse and a friend confronted Cristan Reeves-Putman in Billings. The group eventually drove to a remote section of Pryor Gap Road near Pryor.
Prosecutors state that American Horse climbed into the backseat of a vehicle and shot Reeves-Putman. As Reeves-Putman and the friend struggled and spilled from the vehicle, American Horse continued firing, hitting Reeves-Putman at least four more times in the chest and arm, and inadvertently wounding her own friend.
