Found Guilty: Browning man found guilty in Polson murder

Makueeyapee Whitford stabbed and killed John Pierre Jr. after Pierre launched into the bad-blood history between the two men’s Indian tribes, said Montana State Public Defender Jennifer Streano.

The Lake County murder trial that started Dec. 15 ended late Monday afternoon with a verdict: Whitford is guilty of murder.

Pierre Jr. charged at Whitford, a Blackfeet Indian, with a verbal assault centered on how Blackfeet and Salish-Kootenai are “sworn enemies,” Streano said about the March 2013 argument in which Pierre was killed at a party in Polson.

During the argument, Whitford told Pierre Jr. the bad blood history was “back in the day,” and that he was uninterested in stirring it up, Streano said. But moments later in the argument, Whitford defended himself against an advancing Pierre Jr. Whitford stabbed Pierre and he died hours later.

Prosecutors told the jury Whitford knew only one other person at the party the two men attended. Prosecutors said Whitford became belligerent at the party, where there were about 50 to 80 people.

Streano said Whitford was defending himself. Prosecutors said Whitford murdered Pierre Jr. And the jury agreed.

But getting to trial proved harder for prosecutors, who spent more than 18 months wading through one legal challenge after another, according to Lake County district court records.

Streano told jury members that law enforcement botched its investigation of the alleged murder and ignored evidence showing Whitford was defending himself.

Lake County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the First Street East party at about 4 a.m. where they learned of a stabbing nearby, a court affidavit said.

Witnesses said Whitford and several others were outside the party in or near a car with music playing, when Pierre Jr. approached the car and complained the music was turned down, the affidavit said.

“(Whitford) – who had been belligerent with several other individuals at the party earlier in the night – raised his arm toward Pierre (Jr.),” the affidavit said. An eyewitness saw Whitford strike Pierre, records said. That eyewitness then used his own knife to slash a back tire of Whitford’s car. Pierre Jr. died of his injuries at St. Joseph Medical Center.

When deputies arrived on scene, some witnesses – which included those in the car playing music and Whitford – were gone.

When authorities found the witnesses to the stabbing, one person said Whitford was the assailant, the affidavit said.

But Whitford staunchly insisted he was at the KwaTaqNuk Resort the entire night and had nothing to do with the incident, the affidavit said.

Prosecutors said Whitford has six prior felonies in Washington state, including assault and robbery.  Whitford was arrested in March 2013 and held in custody until the time of his trial. One of the prosecution’s key eyewitnesses disappeared and was not found in time for the trial.