Man who beat sleeping trucker with rocks gets short sentence

An Idaho man who pled guilty to charges related to beating a truck driver during a robbery attempt was sentenced to prison this week.

On Thursday, January 23, 24 year old Stormy Ray Adakai was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Idaho. Adakai had already served six months in a tribal jail, so his sentence was reduced from the original 63 months for time served

Adakai pled guilty to a charge of assault resulting in serious bodily injury in October 2019.

The charges stem from an assault that occurred in September 2018 on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho.

Missouri-based truck driver Amos Phillips was asleep inside his truck, which was parked at the TP Gas Station off of I-15 near the Fort Hall Casino. Phillips had visited the casino on a 34 hour restart.

Phillips later told police that as he was sleeping, an unknown male later identified as Adakai broke into the cab of his truck and demanded money. When Phillips said that he didn’t have any, Adakai reportedly beat him with with rocks in both hands.

Phillips survived the attack but suffered a broken nose, a broken orbital bone and a brain hemorrhage that doctors say could have resulted in death.

A news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office describes how the investigators identified Adakai:

According to court records, video from a nearby camera showed an individual getting into the cab of the truck through the passenger-side door but the lighting and video quality were too poor to make an identification of the subject. A hat not belonging to the victim was later found in the truck. Fort Hall Police detectives and FBI agents later talked to a witness who said he knew that Adakai had committed the assault because he saw Adakai shortly after the assault occurred. Adakai was at a residence lying on the floor, breathing heavily as if he had been running, and had blood all over him and scratches on his face. He was also intoxicated. Adakai told the witness that he had beat up a trucker and had used rocks to assault the man.

Phillips later told the Idaho State Journal that “Externally I’m fine. But from the beating I may never be able to go back to driving. I have a hematoma, or blood clot, on the brain, and they have me on some very serious medications. Because of that I can’t drive commercially.”

In Idaho, the charge of assault resulting in serious bodily injury the punishable by up to ten years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and a term of supervised release of up to three years.