A 21-year-old Shepherd woman will face at least 19½ years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to killing a Mt. Pleasant woman a year ago, according to documents filed in federal court Wednesday.
Kaden Elisabeth Gilbert pleaded guilty to second degree murder in a plea deal that mandates a minimum sentence of 235 months to 264 months in federal prison.
Gilbert agreed to the minimum sentence of 19.5 to 22 years in exchange for federal prosecutors dropping a first-degree premeditated murder charge.
She still faces up to a maximum of life in prison when sentenced on March 3 before Federal District Court Judge Thomas L. Ludington.
Gilbert, whose plea came one year and one day after the murder, will not be subject to the federal death penalty.
Federal prosecutors had already decided not seek the death penalty against Gilbert in the Nov. 16, 2020 stabbing death of Nangonhs Massey.
Eyewitnesses told police that Gilbert came to Oak Street Village Apartments about 2:30 a.m. that day and stabbed both Massey and a 22-year-old man with a knife she had concealed in the sleeve of a sweater.
Police say she stabbed Massey in the thigh with a folding pocket knife, severing her femoral artery.
Gilbert faced federal charges because both of her victims were Native American and the attacks happened within the Isabella Indian Reservation.
Amid repeated court delays, family and friends of Massey held a “healing ceremonial walk” outside a federal courthouse in Detroit in June and have publicly called for justice in the case.
Gilbert has been jailed on a federal criminal complaint since November 2020.
In requesting repeated delays, attorneys for both Gilbert and the government have said “the ends of justice served by this continuance outweigh the best interests of the defendant and the public in a speedy indictment.”
In March, federal prosecutors decided that Gilbert will not face the death penalty.
In December, her defense attorney withdrew a request for a psychological evaluation and a federal magistrate added a second attorney because she could have faced the death penalty.
That second attorney, since Gilbert won’t face the death penalty, was removed from the case last month.
Earlier, lead attorney Bryan Sherer sought an evaluation to see if Gilbert is fit to stand trial but later withdrew the request.
Sherer told the court that extensive travel and isolation within the federal prison system could cause harm to Gilbert.
Federal Assistant Attorney Roy Kranz opposed skipping the examination and said defense concerns can be addressed by bringing experts to the Isabella County Jail to examine Gilbert, but the court allowed the withdrawal.
Both defense and prosecutors have cited Gilbert’s extensive mental health history, which goes back to childhood and has included recent self-harm and hallucinations while in jail.
