Judge agrees to unseal most docs in Anaconda homicide case

District Court Judge Jeffrey Dahood on Tuesday ordered the unsealing of almost all charging documents in the state’s homicide case against Michael Paul Brown, who is charged with fatally shooting four people in Anaconda last summer. Only one document, which a press release from the Montana Freedom of Information Coalition identified as a mental health evaluation, will remain sealed. 

Media organizations including Montana Free Press in January sought to intervene in the criminal case against Brown, arguing that Dahood had improperly sealed the case’s documents and proceedings in August without allowing the media the opportunity to object. Dahood rejected the request to intervene, writing that the organizations “provided no authority to establish why they would have standing in this case.” 

But in late March, a Montana Supreme Court panel ordered Dahood to give the organizations the opportunity to argue for public access to documents. That ruling, signed by Chief Justice Cory Swanson, said Dahood’s decision to block the media’s intervention in the case was based on “a fundamental misunderstanding of governing law.” 

To comply with that court order, Dahood had scheduled a hearing for Thursday, April 30, to decide which documents to make public. But prosecutors, Brown’s defense, and counsel for the media outlets came to an agreement before the hearing: Prosecutors would motion for the release of almost all the documents. Dahood on Tuesday granted that motion and canceled the Thursday hearing. 

Jim Strauss, communications and development director for the Montana Newspaper Association, one of the organizations pushing for documents’ release, told MTFP Wednesday that Dahood’s order marks “a huge victory.”

“It sends a strong message: The Montana Constitution is a model for respecting the public’s right to know,” Strauss said.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Attorney Morgan Smith, one of Brown’s prosecutors, declined to comment for this story. Neither the Montana Department of Justice, another prosecuting entity, nor Brown’s public defender, Walter Hennessey, had responded to requests for comment by publication time. 

Dahood ordered the documents to be unsealed May 8. As of mid-March, Michael Brown was undergoing treatment at Montana State Hospital. Brown’s next status hearing is scheduled for May 6.