Wrong-way speeder sentenced for endangerment, illegal drugs
Linda Sappington
Marshall Dubois
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POLSON — A Great Falls man who led law enforcement on a high-speed chase along Highway 93 in Lake County will belong to the state for 18 years.
On Thursday Judge Deborah Kim Christopher sentenced Marshall Duane Dubois, 32, to five years in DOC for felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs and five years, all suspended, for felony criminal endangerment after he admitted he had meth in his possession and created a substantial risk of death or bodily injury. The sentence is on the heels of an 8-year commitment to the Montana State Prison handed down in Cascade County.
On Oct. 3, 2015, a Montana Highway Patrol Trooper tried to pull Dubois over for speeding through Pablo, but Dubois sped up to 120 mph as he headed toward Polson, according to a court document. Seeing spike strips near the top of Polson Hill, Dubois crossed over the median into oncoming southbound lanes and continued driving the wrong way at 100 mph around a blind curve. To avoid Polson Police at the intersection of Highway 35, Dubois u-turned and drove southbound in the bike and walking path. He re-entered the southbound lanes and continued to speed south, where he drove over spike strips just north of Ronan. Yet he continued to drive until mile marker 44 in Ronan, where law enforcement caught up with him and found meth in his vehicle.
Dubois’ attorney asked that the sentences run concurrently with each other, and with an eight-year sentence in Cascade County. But the state argued Dubois needs probation, so the sentences should run consecutively.
“Spike strips don’t stop him,” attorney Ben Anciaux argued. “He continues until basically the horse under him dies. He’s charged in this county and then goes to Great Falls and essentially does the same thing — puts everyone in danger. He should have to be accountable for each of the times he does these stupid things.”
Christopher ran the two sentences, totaling 10 years, consecutively to each other and consecutively to Cascade County’s eight-year sentence. She noted Dubois’ actions stem from his drug use, yet he’s been through nearly every rehabilitation the Department of Corrections has to offer, without success.
“You need to figure out how to live in this world. You are bright enough to make other choices if you want to,” she said. “But people aren’t safe from you, and you aren’t safe from yourself.”
Dubois said he is accepting what he did and apologized to everyone involved.
“I wasn’t trying to hurt nobody, I was acting on impulse,” Dubois said.
