State v. Kirkland

Defendant was convicted of aggravated assault following a jury trial in the District Court of Yellowstone County and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment without parole as a persistent felony offender. He appeals from the judgment of conviction, the sentence imposed, and denial of a new trial.

In the months preceding February, 1978, defendant Prentiss N. Kirkland had received several threats on his life. In December, 1976, his pickup truck was blown up by persons unknown. On February 12, 1978, he and Mary Gunsch were in the Squire Lounge in Billings, Montana when he received an anonymous phone…