BOZEMAN, Mont.—A 36-year-old Colorado man convicted of attempted homicide after a shootout in Bozeman has been sentenced to 60 years in prison with no chance of parole.
KBZK-TV reports District Judge Mike Salvagni sentenced Christopher Wagner on Friday for exchanging gunfire with Michael Peters of Bozeman on January 17, 2007. Wagner 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.
Another jury convicted Wagner in December.
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 he wanted to talk to Peters in hopes of locating the woman.
Peters said he was driving 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. Wagner was arrested eight days later in Greybull, Wyo.
Both men say they fired in self-defense, and Wagner’s attorneys say they plan to appeal.
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Information from: KBZK-TV,
