BOZEMAN, Mont.—A 36-year-old Colorado man charged in a shootout in Bozeman was convicted Thursday of attempted homicide.
A Gallatin County jury deliberated for six hours before finding Christopher Wagner guilty for exchanging gunfire with Michael Peters of Bozeman on January 17, 2007. Wagner’s sentencing is set for Jan. 24.
He was initially found guilty of the charge in 2008 and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. But the Montana Supreme Court overturned the conviction in August, saying prosecutors attacked his credibility by using against him his refusal to speak with investigators without an attorney.
Court records say Peters and Wagner had dated the same woman in the past, and Wagner, who was charged with assaulting the woman in Colorado in 2005, came to Bozeman looking for Peters. Wagner testified during the first trial that he wanted to talk to Peters in hopes of locating the woman.
Peters said he was driving away from his house when a man flagged him down and pulled a gun on him. Peters, who believed Wagner was in town looking for him, figured the man must be Wagner and told police he shot him twice.
Wagner then fired at Peters, hitting him three times. Peters fled when his gun jammed, and Wagner was arrested eight days later in Greybull, Wyo.
Both men say they fired in self-defense.
