Missoula Crime Report: Jury Says Shooting Was Justified

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The Missoula County Attorney’s Office charged 19 new criminal complaints this week, which is five more than last week and slightly higher than the weekly average. According to County Attorney Kirsten Pabst, eight of those cases involved some form of violence.

“One involved an alleged assault against a woman’s elderly grandfather and another involved an assault against a pregnant female,” Pabst said. “In the endangerment category, we charged two felony DUIs as well as one pursuit case. In the property crimes category, we had a forgery. In the drug crimes category, we charged five new cases and two involved fentanyl. One involved fentanyl, meth, guns, and money. In another, two people were charged for allegedly having heroin, meth, cocaine, guns, and money.”

In addition to all of those cases, Pabst said her office was also busy this week preparing for some upcoming jury trials.

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“It looks like we have two on the docket next week that look like they might go,” Pabst said. “For the week of February 13th, we have seven that are scheduled to go. The following week, which was set to happen on the 15th, was Colton Merritt, which is a homicide case. It looks like that one is going to be postponed. We had talked earlier about preparing for that.”

According to Pabst, they also did a coroner's inquest this week.

“On January 23rd, an inquest was held regarding the death of Jesse James Kale Brown who was killed by law enforcement during an investigation into a serious domestic disturbance,” Pabst said. “The jury returned a verdict that the shooting was justified. At this public inquest, jurors heard testimony from Missoula Police Department Officers, State Department of Criminal Investigation Agents, Montana Crime Lab Pathologists, as well as Mr. Brown’s daughter.”

To learn more about that inquest, you can listen to Pabst’s full report below. Pabst provides her report every Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. during KGVO’s Talk Back show.

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