Courts
The Montana Supreme Court Wednesday ruled against Montana county governments in a dispute over the Montana Department of Revenue’s authority to order the full collection of the 95-mill state-level school equalization levy, a formerly obscure piece of tax bills that became a flashpoint this fall as state and local officials contended with frustration over rising property taxes. The ruling means that the 49 of 56 Montana counties that chose to collect a lower, 77.9-mill rate on tax bills sent to property owners this fall will likely have to make up the difference when they mail their next round of semi-annual tax bills in the spring. “I’m amazed,” Beaverhead Coun...
POLSON — Sunny Kathrinne White pleaded not guilty to charges of vehicular homicide while under the influence (or alternatively – negligent homicide), accidents involving another person or deceased person, two counts of criminal child endangerment, and a count of criminal possession of dangerous d...
News from ACLU Montana MISSOULA — A Montana state district court judge recently blocked enforcement of Senate Bill 99, the discriminatory law that threatens the health and well-being of Montana transgender youth by denying them access to the only evidence-based care for gender dysphoria. In his or...
News from the Department of Justice WASHINGTON — A Montana man and a Pennsylvania man were sentenced in the District of Columbia on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, on several felony and misdemeanor charges, including assaulting law enforcement, related to their ac...
POLSON — A Polson man is accused of stabbing his 86-year-old mother to death and then attempting to conceal her body in her home where her body remained for several days. Garrett Edward Vaska, 46, has been charged with deliberate homicide committed with a dangerous weapon and tampering with or fabri...
A Polson man was committed at District Court in Polson on Sept. 13 to the Montana Department of Corrections for five years for selling oxycodone pills, containing fentanyl, three times to a confidential informant. Jalen Douglas Caye, 23, pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal distribution of dangerous dr...
A Ronan man admitted to assaulting a law enforcement officer and damaging a patrol car. Leroy Francis Toupe, 41, entered a plea of guilty to the amended charge of misdemeanor assault on a peace officer and felony criminal mischief at District Court in Polson on Sept. 7. The plea was entered as part of an agr...
A Polson man admitted to charges of driving impaired when he rolled his vehicle with a child inside. Cory Robert Wetherelt, 22, entered a plea of guilty at District Court in Polson on Aug. 30 to felony criminal child endangerment. The plea was entered as part of a plea agreement that comes with a joint re...
POLSON — A St. Ignatius man, who admitted to dealing drugs in Lake County, was committed at District Court in Polson on Aug. 16, to the Montana Department of Corrections for 10 years with five years suspended. The sentence for Daniel Xavier Durglo, 36, was in accordance with a plea agreement reached on...
POLSON — The imposition of sentencing was deferred for a total of seven years at District Court in Polson on Aug. 16, for a Polson man who admitted to burglary and drug possession charges. The sentence was in accordance with a plea agreement reached on June 28 in the case of Matthew Christian Duncan, 2...
