State v. LaMere

¶1 At approximately 1:00 p.m. on February 21,1997, in an alley in Great Falls, Clifford Thomas LaMere (LaMere), an indigent three-fourths Chippewa Cree Indian, stabbed and killed Steven Brownlee, a white male. The State of Montana (the State) charged LaMere with deliberate homicide. In response, LaMere argued that he had killed the victim in self-defense. On August 15,1997, LaMere filed a pre-trial Motion to Strike the Jury. LaMere’s motion was subsequently denied by the Eighth Judicial District Court, Cascade County. On August 22, 1997, the jury found LaMere guilty of mitigated deliberate…