YAKIMA—On the afternoon of June 8, 2019, drums thundered as dancers in colorful regalia circled the floor at a White Swan powwow commemorating the Yakama Nation’s 1855 Treaty.
As ceremonies carried on, tragedy unfolded several miles northwest in Medicine Valley, where a shooting rampage left five dead at a trailer.
John Cagle, 59, Michelle Starnes, 51, Catherine Eneas, 49, Thomas Hernandez, 36, and Dennis Overaker, 61, were all shot to death.
A manhunt ensued for the suspects as news about the killings reverberated across a shaken reservation.
Yakima County Sheriff Bob Udell called it the worst multiple homicide the county had seen in recent history.
Nearly three years later in Spokane, that day’s trauma was relived in a federal courtroom.
James Dean Cloud of White Swan and Donovan Quinn Carter Cloud of Lyle were accused of the killings and charged in U.S. District Court with murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, carjacking, assault with a deadly weapon and brandishing a firearm with intent to commit bodily injury.
The men were to be tried separately, with James Cloud’s trial scheduled first.
On Wednesday, a jury found James Cloud, 37, guilty of four counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping and carjacking.
Hours later, Donovan Cloud, 35, pleaded guilty to carjacking and brandishing a firearm while committing a crime. His plea agreement shields him from the murder charges.
Donovan Cloud is facing 22 to 27 years in prison while James Cloud is facing a potential life sentence. Sentencings for both men are scheduled for July 26.
Whether the convictions make anyone feel any safer on the reservation remains unclear, said White Swan Community Coalition member and longtime resident Maria Garcia.
“I really don’t know if I feel more safe or not,” she said. “I do think there has been less strange traffic but that may be because of FBI, tribal, county ongoing actions.”
Those law enforcement agencies continue to investigate several homicides and missing persons cases on the reservation. The Clouds are enrolled members of the Yakama Nation and the incident occurred on the reservation, which is why the case was in federal court.
Over the past five years, there have been at least 41 homicides on the reservation involving Native Americans, whether suspects or victims. That doesn’t count those who have gone missing.
A bumpy trial
A jury spent more than a week hearing testimony that conflicted at times and viewing evidence and gruesome photos of the scene.
The trial was anything but smooth. One witness — Natasha Mae Jackson — broke into tears after being forced to review transcripts of what she earlier told investigators.
Her uncle, Morris Jackson, became the federal prosecutors’ star witness, saying he saw James Cloud kill Hernandez and heard him admit to killing Cagle.
A surviving victim, Esmeralda Zaragoza, was excluded as a material witness when defense attorneys learned she was seeking favors from the FBI in exchange for a testimony she was willing to tailor to get what she wanted.
She feared for her safety and needed help relocating. She also wanted her boyfriend’s drug and weapon charges to go away so he could relocate with her.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office was hit with a Brady violation for withholding that information from Cloud’s defense attorneys.
Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr. ordered the prosecutors to pay $4,844.68 to the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho and $216 to the clerk’s office for time spent handing the matter.
Computer equipment problems forced the trial to be shuffled to another courtroom and back.
Two narratives
Prosecutors said the Clouds were responsible for the killings and that the Jacksons were caught up in the violence.
They said it was over drugs and money.
Morris Jackson told jurors he didn’t see who shot Cagle, Starnes and Eneas, but he did see James Cloud shoot Hernandez after he showed up in a pickup with Overacker, Zaragoza, her baby and Lindell LaFollette.
Expert witnesses said metal fragments found in the brains of the victims were either consistent with a .22 bullet or a small caliber rifle.
Morris Jackson said James Cloud had a .22-caliber rifle at the time.
The Jacksons and the Clouds parted ways when the pickup they took from the scene broke down, Morris Jackson said.
The Clouds went to a nearby home, where the family said Donovan Cloud held a gun to their son’s head, demanding keys to their pickup. The boy’s father said James Cloud kept a shotgun pointed at him the entire time.
Defense attorneys accused Morris Jackson of being involved, saying James Cloud was the one caught up in it all.
They argued that Morris Jackson went to Cagle’s to get what he was owed, and that he and Donovan went on the shooting rampage that day.
Defense attorneys noted that Donovan Cloud and Morris Jackson had previously served prison time together.
They pointed to Natasha Jackson’s previous statements to investigators saying her uncle shot at Overacker’s pickup with a shotgun. They also pointed to her statements to investigators saying James Cloud tried to calm Donovan Cloud when he wanted to kill everyone in Overacker’s pickup.
Morris Jackson was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. He said he took possession of the .22-caliber rifle from James after the shootings and tossed it in a canal before he was arrested.
He entered a plea agreement that shields him from any charges related to crimes committed at Cagle’s trailer.
Puzzling testimony
Morris said he was afraid of the Clouds, complying with their orders in effort to keep himself and his niece alive.
He said he gained possession of the .22 rifle and tossed his niece the shotgun when the pickup they took from the scene broke down.
Donovan had the handgun and there was a brief standoff in an orchard, Morris Jackson said.
Natasha Jackson returned the shotgun to James Cloud, he said.
Morris Jackson said Donovan pointed the handgun at him, but James Cloud cautioned the rifle was more accurate. They parted ways.
The Jacksons ran when police spotted them near the area of the carjacking. Morris Jackson tossed the .22 rifle in a nearby canal.
They were both arrested a short time later.
Morris Jackson said he knew he wasn’t supposed to possess a gun.
Natasha Jackson said her uncle had the shotgun before that. At trial she was forced to review her previous statements to investigators saying Morris Jackson shot at Overacker’s pickup with a shotgun. She said her statements were true.
LaFollette also identified Morris Jackson as having shot at Overacker’s pickup with a shotgun in previous statements to investigators and confirmed his statements to be true at trial.
He was struck in the head and neck with birdshot and Zaragoza was stuck in the shoulder. Her infant child was unharmed.
LaFollette also testified that the man who shot Overacker was stocky and wearing a red shirt.
Overacker died from small caliber rifle shots to the head and shoulder, an expert witness said.
Natasha Jackson said James Cloud was wearing a red shirt that day.
Cagle’s stepson, Jeremy Wyatt, told jurors he and James Cloud were both at Cagle’s playing pool the night before the shootings. He said Donovan Cloud was there too but waited in the car.
Wyatt described James Cloud and Cagle as good friends, saying Cagle once gave James Cloud a car when he was down on his luck.
