BUTTE — "On the charge of count one deliberate homicide by accountability, we the jury find the defendant guilty. On the charge of count two attempted deliberate homicide by accountability, we the jury find the defendant guilty. On count three, attempted deliberate homicide by accountability we the jury find the defendant guilty."
After two and a half hours of deliberation, the jury found Lloyd Barrus guilty in connection with the shooting death of Broadwater County Sheriff's deputy Mason Moore.
The jury spent 11 hours in the courtroom listening to the State and defense’s closing argument and the State’s rebuttal before the jury left to deliberate.
Prosecutors called out the defense’s argument that Barrus had not known about the pursuit as nonsense.
"Lloyd Barrus sitting up here in the driver’s seat could not possibly have known what he was doing which in and of itself doesn’t make any sense," said prosecutor Cory Swanson.
Barrus was found guilty of accountability in the deliberate homicide of Deputy Moore by aiding his son Marshall in the May 16, 2017 shooting death of the deputy.
"This case is an evil partnership between Lloyd Barrus and his son Marshall Barrus to satisfy their desire, to satisfy their hatred of the government and law enforcement," said Prosecutor Daniel Guzynski.
After a high-speed chase across several counties that ended in a shoot-out with law enforcement in Missoula County, Barrus surrendered to police; Marshall was shot and later died in the shootout.
The defense continued to interrupt the rebuttal repeatedly calling the evidence to convict Barrus as vague just as they did during their closing argument.
"It’s their job to tell you the truth and I'm just pointing out where they didn’t." said defense attorney Craig Shannon during closing arguments.
Barrus faces the possibility of three life sentences, which will be discussed further at a later date.
Deputy Moore was 42 years old when he was killed and is survived by his wife Jodi and three children. Jodi created the Mason Moore Foundation which provides grants to law enforcement agencies for programs or special equipment that may not be available through the standard governmental funding process.
