TULSA, Okla. – Two brothers involved in a retaliation killing of a Grove man were sentenced on Monday.
U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell sentenced Cody Dwayne Buzzard, 29, of Jay, to 25 years and Dakota Chase Buzzard, 22, of Grove, to six and half years in prison.
Cody Buzzard will serve 180 months after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in Indian Country; and 120 months for brandishing and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Both sentences are to run consecutively, and Cody Buzzard received credit for time served. He has been incarcerated since 2019, records show.
Dakota Chase Buzzard, 22, pled to conspiracy to carry, use, brandish, and discharge a firearm during or in relation to a crime of violence.
Their father, James William Buzzard, 50, of Jay, was convicted by a federal jury of first-degree murder in Indian Country; assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm; and discharge of a firearm during the commission of a federal crime of violence.
REVENGE KILLING
Jerry Tapp was fatally shot on Aug. 1, 2019, at his home in rural Delaware County. Investigators believe the shooting was in retaliation for a 2015 incident in which Tapp fired a shotgun into a vehicle driven by James Buzzard, wounding a juvenile girl.
Deputies discovered Tapp deceased in his front yard from multiple gunshot wounds and his girlfriend wounded after being shot in the wrist.
Cody Buzzard posted on social media inquiries about getting a vehicle and firearm, writing he “had business to tend to,” and that he was going to “take care of a problem.”
James Buzzard will be sentenced at a later date.
