Hobbs sentenced to 50 years
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POLSON — A Polson man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman, stalking and tampering with witnesses. Judge James A. Manley ruled on the case Sept. 17.
Dennis Jay Hobbs, 55, was given a 50-year sentence with none suspended for each of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent. He was also fined $50,000 for each offense, with all suspended.
Additionally, Hobbs was sentenced to Montana State Prison for 10 years and fined $10,000 for charges of tampering with witnesses and informants, and five years for stalking. No part of the time is suspended, and all four sentences are to run concurrently. All $160,000 of the cumulative total of fines is suspended.
A charge of solicitation of deliberate homicide and a charge of assault with a weapon were both dropped in a plea agreement, signed by Hobbs on June 26.
Hobbs was arrested in August 2013 and charged with two counts of sexual intercourse without consent and one count of assault with a weapon. He was ordered to have no contact with the victim.
The victim received an order of protection prohibiting Hobbs from harassing, annoying, disturbing the peace of, telephoning, emailing, contacting or otherwise communicating directly with the victim.
After Hobb’s father posted $100,000 bail, the victim reported that Hobbs was driving by her residence, sending her flowers, making hang-up phone calls, and attempting to communicate with her and her daughter through Facebook. The victim told authorities that she was having nightmares where Hobbs kills her, which was making her afraid to testify at the upcoming trial, first set for January then rescheduled for June 6.
Then, on May 19, Hobbs was arrested for allegedly stalking the victim and attempting to hire someone to kill her. He was also charged with distributing an interview recorded between the victim and the defense attorney.
According to court documents, Hobbs had approached a young man in the fall of 2013, hoping the man could find someone who would kill the victim, but the man refused to find someone for Hobbs. Payment would be a detailed map of an isolated residence filled with guns and coins and other expensive items that the killer could help himself to.
Court documents say Hobbs pestered the young man through the winter and into spring. Hobbs was emphatic about not going back to prison, and said he would get a gun and do the job himself if he had to, according to court documents. Hobbs also opted to just have the victim kidnapped and taken somewhere isolated so he could make her suffer.
According to court documents, Hobbs was also on parole out of Idaho for second-degree kidnapping and aggravated battery, both felonies, involving a previous domestic partner.
Hobbs will first serve the remainder of his sentence in Idaho before serving his 50-year sentence in Montana.
