For beating another drunk man and leaving him for dead in freezing temperatures, a Riverton man was sentenced last month to seven to 15 years in prison.
Quinn Adam Duran, now 33, struck William Yellowrobe Sr., 51, at least once on the night of Feb. 18-19, 2024, while the pair were drinking with others on the streets of Riverton, court documents say.
Yellowrobe, whose blood-alcohol content was at 0.3%, lay beaten and frozen to the ground near the St. James Episcopal Church, where he died.
Duran left the scene and went to a local bar, where police spoke with him, but he didn’t use that opportunity to alert police to Yellowrobe’s dangerous state, court documents say.
Duran couldn’t remember most of that night, though he remembered snippets, his public defender Valerie Schoneberger told District Court Judge Kate McKay at Duran’s Dec. 17 sentencing hearing.
He was drunk and challenging people to fight, witnesses told police.
The Fremont County Coroner’s Office ruled the death a homicide, also noting blunt traumatic injuries to Yellowrobe’s head and ethanol intoxication.
“Although not listed as a contributing cause of death, the victim also had fractured ribs,” wrote Riverton Police Department Detective Bhagya Nethicumara in the evidentiary affidavit.
Yellowrobe’s niece, Mary Yellowrobe, addressed Duran at his hearing, saying Yellowrobe didn’t deserve to be beaten and left to die in the cold.
“He took the life of an innocent man, my uncle, your friend,” said Mary Yellowrobe. “My uncle would (have) gave you whatever you wanted, my uncle was so nice, he took care of me and was a father figure. … You’re not even nobody.”
Fremont County Attorney Patrick LeBrun had argued for a prison term of eight to 15 years in prison, for Duran’s manslaughter conviction. The maximum penalty for that charge is 20 years in prison, but Duran struck an Aug. 16 plea agreement in which LeBrun promised to limit his sentencing argument to eight to 15 years.
Schoneberger asked for a five to 15-year term.
For Duran, drunkenness and violence go hand in hand, LeBrun told the court. The place where he and other “temporarily homeless, temporarily unhoused people” would gather to drink and nestle out of the wind is a common site for both drunkenness and violence, the prosecutor noted.
While the cold and alcohol were both factors in Yellowrobe’s death, his scalp showed deep wounds, LeBrun said.
Though this was not an “intentional homicide,” LeBrun lamented that Duran did not get help for Yellowrobe after he left the scene. It may have made the difference between life or death, he added.
An Unequivocal Apology
Duran offered what McKay later called “a true apology and an unequivocal apology, a forthright apology.”
He said he’s truly sorry and regrets the incident. He wished he’d gotten help for his alcoholism before that night, and extended his apologies to Yellowrobe’s family, kids and grandkids.
“I took something away from him I can’t give back, and I’m truly sorry for that,” said Duran. “That’s all I have to say.”
McKay chose a seven to 15-year sentence – giving one more year of potential grace than the prosecutor had offered — because Duran offered remorse without excuse, the judge said.
She also imposed various court costs and fees, but no fines, according to a judgement and sentencing order filed Dec. 31.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
