Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
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BRYSON CITY, NC - Jeremiah Locust Sr., 47, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, was convicted of 1st degree murder and attempted murder on Saturday, January 30, 1999. Locust will be sentenced to a mandatory life sentence without parole, within 60 days. After originally requesting the death penalty for Locust, the government, without any explanation, dropped the request on Saturday.

Locust shot and killed Ranger Joseph Kolodski on June 21, 1998, as Kolodski was getting out of his vehicle. A second ranger, arriving at the scene, was shot at through his windshield, but was not injured. Kolodski, the first park's ranger to be killed in the line of duty, had been investigating the report of a man walking along the Blue Ridge Parkway with a gun.

Defense lawyers claimed that Locust, who has below average mental ability, had consumed several beers which, combined with the complications of diabetes, further reduced his mental abilities on the day of the shootings.

In his closing arguments on Friday, Stephen Lindsay pointed out, "This is about a good man who is mentally challenged, peaceful and honest", and added, "things weren't operating right in his mind that day."

Prosecutors stressed that Locust had time to leave the parkway but was intent on venting his anger over problems at home. Despite having had the opportunity to leave, he stayed around the parkway shooting the rangers when they arrived. Jerry Miller said, "he wasn't the blind, staggering drunk they're trying to sell you."

It was reported that when the verdicts were read, Locust showed little emotion, but his wife was in tears along with some members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Locust worked as a maintenance person and gardener in Cherokee, North Carolina.