In April 2009, a judge in Bossier Parish District Court in Benton, Louisiana, sentenced Tanya "Little Feather" Smith to two consecutive life sentences for the two counts of second-degree murder, concurrent sentences of 20 years for third-offense possession of marijuana, 15 years for each of three charges of possession of a firearm by a felon, 7½ years for conspiracy to possess a firearm by a felon and five years each for possession of a methamphetamines, possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of an unidentifiable firearm.
All of the jail time was ordered to be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspension, and to be served consecutively with the 27-year federal sentence Smith already received for the same gun and drug charges on January 7, 2009, by a federal judge in Monroe, Louisiana.
A jury in Bossier Parish District Court convicted a member of the Aryan Circle racist prison gang of second-degree murder for the shooting deaths of two Bastrop Police Department detectives in 2007.
On February 19, 2009, the jury found Tanya "Little Feather" Smith guilty of all 10 charges against her. The charges included two counts of second-degree murder against the two Bastrop police officers, conspiracy, possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, and possession of six firearms by a convicted felon (including possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and possession of an unregistered shotgun with a barrel of less than 18 inches in length).
In Louisiana, the sentence for second-degree murder is automatically life in prison without parole.
The trial followed on the heels of a January trial on federal drug and weapons charges related to the same incident. Smith was convicted on those charges and sentenced to 27 years in federal prison.
The Aryan Circle is a large and dangerous white supremacist prison gang that originated in the Texas prison system in 1985. In the past quarter century, it has expanded to a number of other prisons systems, including the federal prison system. More recently, it has developed a significant "free world" membership as well, especially in Texas, where members have run major drug and theft rings and committed a number of murders. The Aryan Circle has about 1,400 members, making it one of the larger white supremacist groups in the whole country.
Smith's boyfriend, Dennis "Bigboy" Clem, was a prominent Aryan Circle member. He and Smith fled to Bastrop, Louisiana, in early August 2007 following a double murder in Houston the previous month. Local Aryan Circle members put them up at a nearby motel.
A few days later, two Bastrop police detectives showed up at the motel room to question the local Aryan Circle member who had registered the room in his name. They suspected him in an unrelated theft case; they knew nothing about Clem and Smith.
Video surveillance revealed that Smith opened the motel room door and let the detectives in. Moments later, they fled the room, wounded, their guns still in their holsters, followed by Clem wielding two pistols. Within seconds, he killed both of the officers. Nearby police immediately responded, creating a brief standoff in which two paramedics were wounded by Clem before an officer shot and killed the Aryan Circle member.
The local Aryan Circle members helped Smith flee the scene, but she was captured two days later in Houston.
