Goodbird Pleads Not Guilty To Involuntary Manslaughter

Rachel Aileen Goodbird, 29, of Poplar, made a plea of not guilty to involuntary manslaughter during a hearing in Great Falls before U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Johnston on July 6.

If convicted of the most serious crime, Goodbird faces a maximum of eight years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Goodbird was released pending further proceedings. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fort Peck Law Enforcement, Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office and Montana Highway Patrol investigated the case.

According to court documents, Good Bird on July 24, 2021, committed an unlawful act not amounting to a felony, namely reckless driving, knowing that such was a threat to the lives of others and knowing of circumstances that would reasonably cause the defendant to foresee that such conduct might be a threat to lives of others. That unlawful act was the proximate cause of the unlawful killing of a female victim.