Hardin Man Sentenced to 7 Years for Hindering Victor Three Irons Murder Investigation

A Hardin man who admitted hindering the murder investigation into the 2023 shooting death of Victor Three Irons on the Crow Indian Reservation was sentenced earlier this month to seven years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said in a press release.

The defendant, Garrell Robert Snell, 34, was sentenced Aug. 8 in United States District Court in Billings. He pleaded guilty in April to accessory after the fact. U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters also ordered $7,997 restitution.

The government alleged in court documents that on Jan. 18, 2023 at Crow Agency, on the Crow Indian Reservation, Three Irons was driven to the emergency room at the IHS Crow/Northern Cheyenne Hospital, and was pronounced dead upon arrival. The driver, Snell’s then-girlfriend, initially lied to law enforcement about where she found the victim. It was alleged that Snell also lied to law enforcement that day about how and where the murder took place, which delayed the investigation of the scene until the next day. Law enforcement learned Three Irons was shot outside of a residence on Crow River Road.

Law enforcement obtained a federal search warrant and analyzed an SD card from exterior security cameras on the residence. Initially, nothing of any evidentiary value was recovered from the SD card. But in February 2024, the SD card was again analyzed, and video was recovered. The video does not show the murder but contains footage before and after the murder. 

The government further alleged that the video shows Three Irons lying on snow-covered ground in the yard before he was picked up and put into the vehicle used to take him to the hospital. After the vehicle leaves, the video showed Snell and another individual cleaning the snow-covered area where Three Irons had been lying by moving snow with a shovel, broom, hands and feet. 

The footage also appears to show Snell and the other individual picking up items from the snow-covered area. Two bullets retrieved from Three Iron’s body and shell casings recovered from the area that was cleaned by Snell and the other individual were determined to have been fired from the same gun. The gun has not been recovered.