Jury trial scheduled for fatal shooting in Polson
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POLSON — Ashley Whitmore, 33, will face a jury trial on March 9 in Lake County District Court on one charge of deliberate homicide in the shooting death of 39-year-old Adam Mowatt of Polson.
She was arraigned Nov. 20 in Lake County District Court before the Honorable John Mercer, where she pleaded not guilty to the charge. The defendant was present with Counsel Anthony Romamo, who indicated he was filling in while the Office of Public Defender appoints an attorney to represent her.
Whitmore remains in custody in the Lake County Detention Facility on a bond of $1 million. Her next hearing will be a pretrial conference on Jan. 29.
By Montana law, the maximum penalty for deliberate homicide is life imprisonment or by imprisonment for a term of not less than 10 years, with the additional punishment of not less than 2 years for the use of a dangerous weapon.
According to a news release issued by the Polson Police Department, officers were dispatched to a residence at 1410 5th Avenue East at approximately 8:35 a.m. on Nov. 6 for reports of shots fired. Officers at the scene discovered Mowatt suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was transported to St. Joseph Medical Center in Polson, where he was pronounced dead.
Following an investigation with other local law enforcement partners, Whitmore was taken into custody at the scene, a camper trailer, without incident. In a search of the premises, investigators located a 30-06 hunting rifle with a spent casing in the chamber.
According to court documents, the defendant while in custody had a phone call with a friend on Nov. 13. During that call, the defendant stated that: “He had beat me the night before. I was able to get away to a friend’s house. He decided to take that as an invitation to come find me that morning. I slammed the door in his face. He took that as an invitation to open the door, and I was just in fight or flight and at that point. He wasn’t backing down.”
