Box Elder man sentenced to over 4 years in prison for assault on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation

GREAT FALLS - A Box Elder man who impaled an individual's eye with a cane on the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation was sentenced yesterday to 51 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

Mario Patacsil, Jr., 57, pleaded guilty in October 2025 to one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

U.S. District Judge William W. Mercer presided.

The government alleged in court documents that On July 22, 2024, law enforcement officers were dispatched to a house after a 911 call reporting that the defendant, Mario Patacsil, Jr., had shot John Doe in the arm. When officers arrived, Doe stated that he had not been shot, but Patacsil had beaten him with a wooden cane and stuck him in the eye. Officers could see Doe's right eye was swollen and had a circular wound around it. The wound appeared consistent with being prodded with the bottom of a cane. Doe also had bruising on his forearm. The officers arrested Patacsil and found a wooden cane in his car.

The FBI interviewed both Doe and Patacsil. Both described an argument that resulted in Patacsil, Jr. "poking" Doe with his cane before he fled the scene.

Doe was seen at Benefis Hospital in Great Falls. He was admitted with a ruptured orbital globe with no vision or light perception in his right eye and underwent surgery. In August, Doe went out of state for additional surgery in an attempt to save his eye. There he underwent a vitrectomy to remove the fluid within his eye, a lensectomy to remove the lens of his eye, and a retinectomy to remove the retina. Doe permanently lost vision in his right eye.

The U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted the case. The FBI and Chippewa Cree Law Enforcement Services conducted the investigation.

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