Sunday, June 22, 2008

Montana woman convicted of killing husband

After a 3 week long trial, Anne Stout, 43, of Ravalli County, Montana, was convicted for the murder of her husband Bill Stout, 50, June 10 2007, with a 9 mm Beretta handgun. Ravalli County District Judge Jeffrey Langton accepted the jury's guilty verdict Thursday at about 12:20 PM, which they reached after 60 witnesses and sifting through many articles of evidence.

Ravalli County Prosecuting Attorney Geoff Mahar summarised the case after the verdict.

“This was a classic ‘CSI' story and there was an incredible amount of computer and technology work that went into it,” Mahar said. “There were so many aspects to the case, and we did our best in trying to make our case as concise as possible. (County Prosecuting Attorney) Bill Fulbright and I did our jobs, but the real victims in the case are the family members of Anne Stout.”

Mahar said the cooperation of the Ravalli County Sheriff's Office was essential to the trial.“They worked on this case tirelessly and when the investigation was done, they did everything and more,” Mahar said. “Sheriff (Chris) Hoffman needs to be congratulated for mentoring and leading a good group of professionals and people. Win or lose, we were very proud to work with them.”

Fulright priased the jurors for putting their work in in the case.

“This case was a perfect example of our legal system at work. We put it out there and then let the citizens of the community decide. I was afraid after three weeks we would lose sight of what this was about - the loss of a good man.”

Stout's bond was revoked after the conviction, and she is being held at the Ravalli County jail pending sentencing August 26 at 9 AM.

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