Sentence of 30-plus years for man who shot and killed victim in northern Minnesota 'without provocation'

A 21-year-old man received a 30-year prison sentence for fatally shooting his victim "without provocation" outside a northern Minnesota home.

Montana Cutbank, of Pennington, Minn., was sentenced Friday in Beltrami County District Court to 31 ¼ years in connection with the shooting on Nov. 24 in Ten Lake Township.

With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Cutbank will serve the first 20 years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

Neither the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office nor the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office has ever identified the victim. The family identified him as Charles Kingbird, 29, in a flier distributed last week announcing a courthouse rally on the day of the sentencing.

According to witnesses cited in the criminal complaint, Cutbank arrived at Kingbird's home in a pickup truck occupied by three other people. The victim came out of the home and approached the passenger side of the pickup. Sitting in the back seat, Cutbank drew a sawed-off shotgun from his jacket while arguing with Kingbird, became upset and "shot and killed [the man] without provocation," the complaint read.

The pickup driver went to Cass Lake, where Cutbank fled from the others and remained at large until his arrest four days later in Duluth.

Along with this case, Cutbank's criminal history in Minnesota includes two convictions for theft and one each for aggravated robbery, fleeing police and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482