A Yellowstone County jury found Bryce Tayler Blackburn guilty of deliberate homicide Friday in the 2024 beating death of Denis Osbourne, a 55-year-old man who confronted him about speeding through a Billings neighborhood.
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Cries from Blackburn's family could be heard throughout the courtroom as the verdict was read. Blackburn was 17 at the time of the killing and is now 20. He has been charged as an adult despite his age at the time of the incident.
Prosecutors said Blackburn was racing his loud, modified Honda Civic through a residential area in the Heights when Osbourne ran into the road and threw a plastic Fireball whiskey bottle to get his attention and slow him down. Blackburn stopped, got out of his car, and began punching Osbourne. Osbourne later died from his injuries.
Neither side disputed that the beating occurred.
"The facts really did show that the defendant beat Dennis and caused his death, which is how he was charged," Hallie Bishop, chief deputy Yellowstone County attorney, said.
The defense argued Blackburn acted in self-defense and used justifiable force.
"It was a self-defense case, and self-defense cases are tricky," James Reavis, Blackburn's defense attorney, said.
The jury rejected that argument. Blackburn will now face sentencing for deliberate homicide. Until sentencing, he will be held at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility.
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