By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – In a retrial, a Hill County jury has convicted Shane Johnson of negligent homicide in the 2013 shooting death of his brother, Travis Johnson, in Havre.
The trial took six business days, beginning on June 8th and concluding with a verdict from the Jury early in the afternoon on June 15th. Jury deliberations took approximately 90 minutes.
The retrial was presided over by District Court Judge Matthew Cuffe after Judges Kaydee Snipes-Ruiz and John W. Parker recused themselves.
Sentencing is set for August 6th.
The Montana Supreme Court vacated the initial negligent homicide conviction in September 2020, stating that a reversible error was committed “when it allowed the jury unrestricted access to the State’s audio and video exhibits.”
In the initial 2014 trial that has since been vacated, Johnson was charged with deliberate homicide, but the jury was unable to come to an agreement on that charge and instead convicted him of a negligent homicide charge that was added during the trial. The sentence that was handed down but has since been vacated was for 50 years of incarceration, with 10 suspended.
Johnson’s appeal was denied by Hill County District Court in 2016 before being taken up by the Montana Supreme Court.
