The three-day murder trial of a Cherokee man accused of beating his uncle to death with a baseball bat ended with a federal jury in Asheville returning a guilty verdict. Shane McKinley Swimmer, 21, was convicted of second-degree murder last Thursday for the Nov. 10, 2018, beating death of Charles Ray “Chino” West, at his residence on Rocky Knob Trail in Swain County within the boundaries of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians reservation. Officers with the Cherokee Indian Police Department arrested Swimmer shortly thereafter. He remains in federal custody and faces life in prison when he is sentenced.
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