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Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!”
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Volume XXXV, Number 27
Seizing the day
Established 1985 – Locally owned & independent
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
County agrees to settlement of wrongful conviction lawsuit By Michael Howell
Among the many women who hit the sidewalks in Hamilton to participate in the local Women’s March last Saturday were Cynthia Stotz Capelle, Alene Tunny, Norma Twyman, Mary Lyn and Vikki Bell. Michael Howell photo.
Ravalli County Commissioners agreed to participate in a $6 million settlement agreement ending a lawsuit filed over wrongful conviction. The lawsuit, filed by Paul Jenkins, Kenneth Jenkins and Crystal Combs, stemmed from Paul Jenkins serving over 23 years in prison for the murder of a woman in 1994 that he did not commit. Although the charges mainly involve the sheriffs and some deputies from Jefferson County, where the abduction took place, and Lewis and Clark County, where the body was found, the lawsuit did allege that at one point Ravalli County officers may have played a role back in 1999 in continuing the unjust incarceration by either failing to relay information that could have led to the men’s release, or for failing to follow up when that information was not used by the investigating officers in those other counties.
The victim in the murder case, Donna Meagher, was abducted from a saloon outside of Helena in 1994 during a robbery and her body was found in an adjoining county. She had been brutally beaten to death with a claw hammer. Jenkins and a friend named Fred Lawrence were arrested and convicted of the crime in 1995. No physical evidence linking them to the crime was submitted at trial. They claim in the lawsuit that evidence in the case was fabricated, that some testimony against them was coerced, and that exculpatory evidence was hidden and that this was done with explicit consent and often with explicit instructions from the Jefferson and Lake County Sheriffs. Then in 1999, four years after their convictions, the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office had an opportunity, according to the lawsuit, to right a wrong and mitigate the damage caused by the wrongful conviction, when Fred Nelson, the nephew of the true perpetrator
David Nelson, told them about his uncle’s detailed confession to Meagher’s murder, which included non-public and accurate details about the crime. Fred Nelson even told the officers how his uncle David Nelson had said “two mentally challenged kids took the rap” for his crime. David Nelson had no relationship to Fred Lawrence or Paul Jenkins, and never spoke to either of them or their lawyers. The lawsuit claims that Ravalli County detectives failed to pass along Fred Nelson’s account or photos taken of David Nelson’s car, which had been used in the murder, to any state or local agencies with authority over the Meagher investigation, and Lawrence and Paul Jenkins remained wrongfully imprisoned. “In the alternative,” they argue, “if the Ravalli County officers did relay this information to the Montana Criminal Investigation Bureau, the Lewis and Clark See LAWSUIT, page 2
Women’s march held in Hamilton Changes being considered The temperature may have been low on Saturday, but enthusiasm was high at River Park for the Women’s March in Hamilton. Over 200 participants marched down Main Street in Hamilton to express their views on a variety of issues from women’s rights to climate change to immigration. Many also used the platform to express their distaste for the current administration. Jill Deppell of Hamilton and Kierstin Schmitt of Corvallis led the crowd with chants of “Our body, our choice” and “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here.” There has been a strong contingent of support in the Bitterroot for the Women’s March
for septic system regulations By Michael Howell
The Women’s March held last Saturday in Hamilton stretched over two city blocks as demonstrators peacefully paraded down one side of Main Street and then back up the other side, chanting “We are united, we can’t be divided.” Michael Howell photo. for solidarity since the first one was held in the state capital a few years ago. That participation was organized and facilitated by several women, including Merle Loman, who relied heavily on social media to get the word out. This year, there was a conflict between the march in Helena
Monica Tranel, candidate for the PSC told the crowd, “We need more women in positions of power.” Michael Howell photo.
Corrinne Gantt, president of the Ravalli County Democratic Central Committee, and Merle Loman, right, have been instrumental in organizing the women’s march at the local level. Michael Howell photo.
and an important cultural event at the Hamilton Performing Arts Center. That’s when Corrine Gantt, president of the Ravalli County Democratic Central Committee, got the idea to hold a local march to accommodate those who chose to attend the local community event but were anguished over missing the march. Gantt rounded up the necessary permits and also arranged for a couple of speakers to kick off the local march. Monica Tranel, candidate for Public Service Commission, kicked off the rally by telling the crowd that “we need more women in positions of power.” Tranel has specialized in regulatory issues before the PSC for nearly 20 years and said she recently faced an all-male board who told her that “climate change is not real and that wind turbines cause cancer.” Experiences like this spurred her to run for office. Former history teacher and committed Democrat Jan Abel also addressed the crowd. “They say the size of the crowd in DC was smaller than previous years, but look at the size of our crowd here for our Women’s March in Hamilton!” Abel went on to encourage people to continue in their efforts to effect change. “Look how many women ran for the Senate and the House and won in 2018! We can make a difference!” Gantt said most of the impetus for the Women’s March to date was presented as nonpartisan, but since the Democratic Central Committee was sponsoring the event this year and had gotten the permits for this parade and the insurance, “You pretty much can’t call it non-partisan now,” Gantt said.
The Ravalli County Board of Health has been reviewing the county’s wastewater discharge permitting system for some time now and last fall began holding serious discussions on the subject. Those meetings have been primarily attended by a small number of real estate brokers and builders. According to John Palacio, director of the county’s Environmental Health Department, a marathon meeting is scheduled to complete the final portion of the board’s review. The meeting is set for Wednesday, January 22 at 1
p.m. in the county commissioners’ meeting room in the Administration Building on 4th Street in Hamilton. Once the review is completed, Palacio hopes to have a final draft of proposed changes to the regulations completed by the second Wednesday in February, he said. To date, according to Palacio, there are only two major changes under consideration. One would be to require a certification of the status of the septic system when any property changes ownership. The document which would be required for registering any change of ownership would
certify that the property has an existing valid septic permit as well as verifying the specifics concerning the size of the septic system and the number of bedrooms in the dwelling. Another thing that needs to be addressed, according to Palacio, is what to do once an unpermitted system is discovered. Palacio said he hoped to have new regulations in place by this March. Health Board member Roger DeHaan said that the changes under consideration are long over-
a male individual was threatening to kill his mother and sister in an apartment in Hamilton and that the man had a bloody nose and that a female had just left the apartment and was putting clothing into a vehicle in the parking lot. According to the charging documents in the case, Officer Lewis and Sgt. Scoggins heard several loud “bangs” as they approached the apartment complex. But this was followed by a second set of 5 to 7 shots that they recognized immediately as gunfire. Approaching the upstairs room from which the noise had come, the officers observed several bullet holes in the door. A third officer, Eldridge, arrived and they announced their presence and ordered the shooter to come to the door. The person inside responded, according to the charging affidavit, by firing 15 rounds through the door, forcing the officers to take cover. The shooter, later identified as Tyler Kain Butler, continued to fire another 20 to 30 rounds through the door as the officers called for back-up. According to the documents, while this was going on a couple of men approached the apartment complex and were intercepted by one of the officers. He said they demanded to speak to Butler, the
shooter. It states that the men were uncooperative and Officer Williams, “ultimately took control of the phone and began speaking with the defendant, who continued to shoot through the front door.” Responding to questions from the officer, Butler said his family was not present and were safe in the parking lot and that no one else was present in the apartment. Williams told him that “nobody else needed to get hurt, and the Defendant responded that he would kill any law enforcement officers that came to the door.” When the officer told him again that nobody needed to die, that was followed by several more shots through the door. The next time he repeated that nobody needed to get hurt, however, the affidavit states “the defendant said he was coming out and not to shoot him.” According to the affidavit, he did exit and initially complied with the officer’s instructions, “but became combative and stated multiple times that officers should shoot him.” Instead, Butler was taken into custody. An AR-15 rifle with a bipod was found inside the apartment facing the front door. The gun was still smoking and had
See SEPTICS, page 2
All in a day’s work Dangerous incidents end without injuries, with aid of law enforcement By Michael Howell Responding to a domestic dispute or a domestic violence call is one of the most dangerous situations a law enforcement officer may face. Emotions may be running extremely high, making the actions of those involved unpredictable. The presence of law enforcement may be viewed as an intrusion and they could become a target. Sometimes, one of those involved may even want to die and may even want the police to pull the trigger. According to charging documents filed in Ravalli County Justice Court by Deputy District Attorney Thorin Geist, something like this has happened twice this month, one week apart, in unrelated cases. The first occurred on January 4, when four Hamilton Police officers, including Officer Bryson Lewis, Sgt. Joshua Scoggins, Officer Norm Williams and Officer Michael Eldridge, all responded to a call from a woman stating that
See INCIDENTS, page 3