Thursday, May 29, 2014

Hope This Montana Post Makes You Happy

4 couples suing over Montana’s gay-marriage ban 

Watch yourselves on the honeymoons, for a couple of reasons:

"Newlywed sentenced to 30 years" AP   March 28, 2014

MISSOULA, Mont. — A Montana woman was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison for killing her husband of eight days by pushing him from a cliff in Glacier National Park after they argued over her second thoughts about the marriage.

US District Judge Donald Molloy said he saw no remorse from Jordan Graham, 22, in the killing of Cody Johnson, 25. He also ordered her to pay $17,000 in restitution.

Graham cried on the stand Thursday and apologized to her family and Johnson’s. But Molloy indicated he had continuing doubts about her honesty.

Prosecutors said Graham lured Johnson to a steep cliff in Glacier Park on July 7 and pushed him over, then lied repeatedly to investigators in an attempt to cover up the crime.

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"Rapist will be resentenced in Montana case" Associated Press   May 01, 2014

BILLINGS, Mont. — A former high school teacher who served one month in prison after being convicted of raping a 14-year-old student faces more time behind bars after the Montana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that his original sentence was too short.

Justices unanimously ordered the case of Stacey Dean Rambold assigned to a new judge for re-sentencing.

The decision means Rambold must serve a minimum of two years in prison under state sentencing laws, Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito said.

The high court cited, in part, the inflammatory comments of the sentencing jurist, District Judge G. Todd Baugh, who drew wide condemnation for suggesting that the victim shared some responsibility for her rape.

The defendant was a 47-year-old business teacher at Billings Senior High School at the time of the 2007 rape. The victim killed herself in 2010 while Rambold was awaiting trial.

Rambold’s attorneys insisted that the original sentence was appropriate.

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The long, slow, loving version: Ex-Montana teacher to be re-sentenced in rape case