Poitra sentenced to life behind bars

On the evening of February 19, 2023, Nicholas Poitra, 46, walked into Rindy's Bar in Sheyenne and killed 30-year-old Troyal Thumb less than 10 minutes later.

He then held several bar patrons at gunpoint as he stole a set of car keys, and went on to lead law enforcement on a tense 65-hour-long manhunt.

It wasn't until February 22, when Poitra was spotted on a county road and held at gunpoint by a local farmer, that the ordeal was finally over.

And now, well over a year later, Poitra has learned his fate.

Appearing in person at the Eddy County Courthouse in New Rockford on Wednesday, May 29, Poitra was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the murder of Troyal Thumb, a Sheyenne resident and a father of four children.

The hefty sentence comes after Poitra originally pleaded not guilty to each charge filed against him – which included Class AA felony murder – and also rejected a plea agreement offered by the state last July.

Just weeks before his murder trial was scheduled to begin, he amended his pleas to guilty on all counts, leaving his fate in the hands of District Court Judge James Hovey.

Before being told his sentence on Wednesday, Poitra took the opportunity to make a brief statement apologizing for his actions.

"I would just like to apologize to Troyal's family," he said. "If I could go back and change it, there would be a million things I would do."

With that, Judge Hovey moved straight into sentencing, as there were no victim impact statements to be read aloud.

For each of the five Class C felony charges of terrorizing – adult victim, Poitra was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, and was sentenced to another five years' imprisonment for the Class C felony charge of terrorizing – child victim.

Regarding the Class C felony charge of unlawful possession of a firearm, Poitra was again sentenced to three years' imprisonment, and for the Class B felony charge of robbery, he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment.

For the Class AA felony charge of murder, Poitra was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Each sentence is to run concurrently with one another, and is followed by three years of supervised probation with credit for 463 days served.

Judge Hovey said Poitra's estimated life expectancy is 31.8 more years from the date of sentencing, making him eligible for parole in approximately 27 years – after he's served 85 percent of his life sentence.

The maximum sentence Poitra could have received was life in prison without the possibility of parole.