Plea agreement could scrub murder charge in North Dakota MMIP case

Wilkinson is a Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara citizen, as was his girlfriend, Alexia De La Cerda, who was known as Lexi.

According to an FBI agent’s affidavit attached to the criminal complaint, a security camera in the house where the couple lived captured Wilkinson assaulting, and appearing to strangle, De La Cerda, on Aug. 9, 2024. He then allegedly locked her children in a room and set the house on fire. A police car patrolling the area saw the smoke and stopped at the house as Wilkinson and his brother Cedrick emerged. The children were taken to the hospital and survived.

Wilkinson was charged with second degree murder, arson, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, assault resulting in serious bodily injury, assault of an intimate partner by strangulation, tampering with evidence and using a fire to commit a felony. Cedrick Wilkinson is not facing any charges.

But a deal signed by Wilkinson on Oct. 29 would drop most of the charges, including those for murder and arson, in exchange for a guilty plea for assault with intent to commit murder and tampering with evidence. His next court date is scheduled for March 2 to discuss the plea agreement. If it goes through, he will face a maximum prison sentence of 40 years, according to the plea document.

Wilkinson was added to North Dakota’s sex offender registry following a conviction for sexual abuse in 2005. In 2017, he was sentenced to 55 months in prison for assault resulting in serious bodily injury and assault with a dangerous weapon.

De La Cerda’s mother, Jeanette Malnourie, and brother, Antonio Malnourie, told Buffalo’s Fire they don’t think a plea agreement would represent justice. Instead, they want a trial.

The defense and the prosecution argue the plea deal would spare De La Cerda’s children, who are both minors, from the trauma of a trial.

Antonio Malnourie said the prosecutor warned them if it goes to trial, Wilkinson could walk free. “Our response is there is no guarantee in any of this. To look for certainty in such an uncertain case is complete folly,” Antonio Malnourie said. “You have to be able to put this before a jury of their peers, let those boys tell the story and let the jury hear the pure brutality and merciless killing of my sister.”

The defense attorney, Erin Bolinger, declined to comment. The United States Attorney’s Office said they cannot comment on active cases.

“This was somebody’s life, it was a young mother taken away from children,” Jeanette Malnourie said. “Now I have that role of being not just their grandmother but their guide.”

A court document summarizing the evidence captured on the surveillance camera states that on Aug. 7, two days before the murder, Wilkinson was captured by the same camera assaulting De La Cerda.

The Malnouries said they hope prosecutors can amend Wilkinson’s charges to first degree homicide. They also hope to have the option of the death penalty. An order submitted by Judge Daniel Traynor on Dec. 3 asked prosecutors to file a brief “addressing whether it can seek approval from the Three Affiliated Tribes to pursue the death penalty in this case.”

Under the Death Penalty Act of 1994, tribes need to opt in to the death penalty for federal courts to consider capital punishment for certain crimes. The prosecution’s brief, dated Dec. 4, said the penalty did not apply because the tribe has not opted in and Wilkinson is not charged with a crime punishable by capital offense.

As a child, De La Cerda faced years of abuse from her biological father, said Jeanette Malnourie, who has since separated from him. “It created a mindset in her that abuse was tolerable,” said Antonio Malnourie, who said he also experienced abuse from his father.

Jeanette Malnourie said her daughter was dating Wilkinson for about six months before she was killed. In those six months, she describes what her daughter went through as “hell.”

“Lexi was a helper. Lexi was there to help. Me and my children grew up with a very difficult life with years of abuse, so when she felt like she could help somebody that’s how she was,” she said.

At the time of her death, the Malnouries were looking for an apartment for De La Cerda and her children so she could leave the reservation and her boyfriend, and live closer to them.

Prior to her murder, De La Cerda wanted to leave the reservation and develop a career teaching special education, Jeanette Malnourie said. At the time, she was working as a teacher for Three Affiliated Tribes Headstart, a job she had for six years.

“She was a dedicated and loving teacher,” Antonio Malnourie said. “Every class, she referred to her students as her babies.”

Her family describes her as someone who radiated positivity. She loved holidays, birthdays and spending time with family. She especially loved Christmas, Jeanette Malnourie said, adding the family would tease her for decorating her house with so many lights, saying it looked like the Griswald’s house from the movie “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

“Lexi was full of life,” Jeanette Malnourie said. “She was a go-getter. She would light up the room when she walked in.”