Prosecutors: Bagola Appeal Should Be Tossed

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Prosecutors say an appeal by a man convicted of killing two children on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation should be thrown out of federal court.

A jury in September found Valentino "Tino" Bagola guilty for the May 2011 slayings of 9-year-old Destiny Jane Shaw-Dubois and her 6-year-old brother, Travis Lee DuBois Jr.

Defense attorneys for Bagola said in an appeal filed last month that the government failed to prove its case and Bagola's confession was coerced by FBI agents. The appeal said the father of the children, Travis Dubois Sr., was responsible for the killings.

The government said in a response filed Tuesday that the evidence supported a guilty verdict and any decision to grant a new trial "should be made sparingly and with caution."

Bagola faces life in prison.