As was his wife, a Stryker man was found guilty of horrific child abuse following a three-day trial in September in the Lincoln County Courthouse.

Michael Stephen Bernhard was found guilty on seven of nine counts, including six felonies, for alleged actions between 2023 and 2026. The felonies include one count of assault with a weapon and five counts of assault on a minor. The lone misdemeanor count is for partner or family member assault, bodily injury.

In relation to the assault on a minor charges, Bernhard was accused of placing a child’s hands into a vise and striking them with a wire brush. He was also accused of shooting a child with a pellet or BB gun, causing injury, and striking one of the children with a belt and a cord.

The jury found him not guilty on two counts of witness tampering. The trial began Sept. 22 and ended Sept. 24 following a short deliberation by the jury.

Bernhard remains in the county detention center on $250,000 bail where he has been since his April 9 arrest. He will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18 in the courthouse.

Bernhard faces decades in the Montana State Prison. An assault with weapon conviction may result in a 20-year term while the assault on a minor convictions may result in a total of 25 years.

The maximum term on the misdemeanor charge is one year in the  county jail. Fines could range from $1,000 to $50,000.

Bernhard’s wife, Dawn Marie Bernhard, was found guilty by a jury Sept. 4 of two counts of witness tampering, two counts of assault on a minor, by accountability, and one count of assault on a minor.

She faces a total of 35 years in prison and a maximum of $250,000 in fines if the sentences are consecutive. District Judge Matt Cuffe scheduled Bernhard’s sentencing for 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30. She remains lodged in the Lincoln County Detention Center on $250,000 bail where she has been since her April 14 arrest.

Lincoln County attorney Marcia Boris and deputy county attorney Lauren O’Neill prosecuted the case while Scott B. Johnson was Bernhard’s attorney.

In her opening statement, O’Neill said, “These children were marking their lives by incidents of abuse, not by time or anything else.”

Johnson urged jury members to use their intellect rather than allow their emotions to decide a verdict.

“We believe there is evidence on some things, but not everything, beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said.

But that was easier said than done as jurors heard testimony from, among others, two of the abused children, the defendant’s father and two Lincoln County residents who briefly lived with the family in the waning months of 2025.

Also, the defendant was admonished twice by District Judge Matt Cuffe for possibly attempting to influence the children during their time on the witness stand. There was also an increased law enforcement presence in the courtroom with county sheriff Darren Short, county officer Ben Fisher and a detention center officer following rumored concerns about Bernhard.

Possibly the most unsettling testimony not heard in the trial against Dawn Bernhard came from Michael Bernhard’s father, Scott Bernhard.

“I never thought I’d have to be involved in the prosecution of any of my children,” Scott Bernhard said. “Some of the punishments I used on him (Michael) were not acceptable now. I’d use a belt, slap his hands or put him in the corner. He was a difficult child.”

He also talked about the couple getting together and moving around Western Montana.

“Dawn and Mike got together sometime in 2021 and they lived in Lincoln County until they moved to Deer Lodge in 2023 when he got work as a guard at the Montana State Prison.”

The time in Deer Lodge and Mike Bernhard’s job at the prison didn’t last long, though. 

“Ten months later they moved back to Lincoln County,” Scott Bernhard said.

Outside of court, Scott Bernhard told The Western News that Dawn talked Michael Bernhard into quitting his job at the prison because her ex-husband, John Kendall Ellis, was incarcerated there.

According to a 2022 story in The Western News, Ellis pleaded guilty to solicitation to incest. He was sentenced to 20 years, with 10 suspended, to the state prison. 

Along with solicitation to incest, Ellis initially faced a charge of sexual assault or incest, alternatively. It was dropped after he pleaded guilty. A second case against Ellis, one that involved an assault with a weapon charge stemming from an alleged attack on a detention center officer while he was in the county jail, was dismissed.

Dawn Bernhard, then Dawn Ellis, filed for an order of protection against John Ellis for herself, family members and others because she feared retaliation when he was paroled. 

While the petition was denied by Judge Cuffe, he said when John Ellis was released, she could see a protection order.

Ellis, eligible for parole since March 27, 2024, is in the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Mississippi. It is a private facility where Montana state officials moved  600 inmates earlier this year due to overcrowding.

He was denied release by the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole earlier this year in January. Ellis’ next hearing is January 2028. Among the reasons for his parole being denied included a lack of accountability and the severity of the offense.

During trial testimony, Michael Bernhard’s father said he never used weapons against his son.

“They’re dangerous, it’s common sense you don’t use weapons against another person unless it’s in law enforcement or military action,” Scott Bernhard said.

Five of Bernhard’s convictions, assault on a minor, were due to his use of a pellet gun, wire brush, leather belt and an electric cord.

Scott Bernhard also testified about an incident when Michael Bernhard was 18 years old.

“One time Michael and I got into an altercation at home. He wasn’t working and he said he was going to get a tattoo,” Scott Bernhard said. “I told him as long as he lived under my roof, he wouldn’t be getting a tattoo. He came home with a tattoo across his chest and I began poking him in the chest.

“He said, ‘if you touch me again, I’ll cut you, old man,’ and then I punched him out.”

O’Neill asked the grandfather if he felt his grandchildren could have defended themselves and he said, “No.”

The Bernhard’s middle child lived with Scott Bernhard and his wife since she was about two weeks old before being returned to Michael in the summer of 2024.

She testified to a variety of abuse on multiple occasions.

“I’d get beaten if I didn’t do chores in a timely manner,” she said. “They only stopped when they got tired, not when I asked them to.”

She, not yet 11 years old, also said Michael Bernhard showed her a video of a head being chopped off.

“I perceived it to be a threat,” the child said.

In Dawn Bernhard’s trial, testimony was offered that the children were threatened with being placed in a woodchipper if they told authorities.

To report child abuse or neglect, contact Child and Family Services of the state Department of Public Health and Human Services at 1-866-820-5437. Victims of sexual violence can call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.