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Great Falls, Montana (AP) Feb. 2010
A Lodge Pole man was sentenced to life in prison during February for a 2008 double murder in which he slit the throats of a husband and wife during a burglary on the Fort Belknap Reservation.
Elwyn “Jay” Has The Eagle, 26, was sentenced in U.S. District Court by Judge Sam Haddon for killing of Calvin Snell, 69, and Doreen Manzanares, 62.
At the time of the murders, Has The Eagle was out on $50,000 bail on a charge that he killed another man by bludgeoning him in the head with a rock. A Feb. 24 trial date is scheduled in that case, said Phillips County Attorney Edward Amestoy.
In 2004, Has The Eagle was sentenced to almost three years in prison on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon
For the Lodge Pole killings, Has The Eagle will serve two consecutive life terms and 240 years on a burglary count. He was also ordered to pay $4,241 in restitution.
There will be no possibility of parole, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Fehr.
Jurors convicted Has The Eagle in October after hearing a recording in which he confessed to the Dec. 17, 2008, slayings during an interview with the FBI.
Neighbors found the Lodge Pole couple dead in their separate beds with stab wounds and slit throats. Has The Eagle was arrested later the same day after a police chase and standoff.
He said he killed Snell and placed two of the man’s eagle feathers on the body to signify forgiveness. Prosecutors said Has The Eagle then contemplated leaving, but heard Manzanares in a separate bedroom.
He then asked Manzanares for the keys to her car, which she gave to him, before he killed her. After scrawling an expletive on the wall using her blood, he drove away in her vehicle.
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Crime/Justice 
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