Lake County jail holds four murderers

BY MICHELLE LOVATO

Lake County Leader

Five convicted or accused murderers sat in Lake County Jail until recently, when convicted murderer Makueeyapee Whitford left. Now there are four men on Lake County Jail’s murderers row, all of whom are waiting for the court system to determine their future.

Adrian M. McElderry pleaded guilty to felony deliberate homicide and felony obstructing justice May 21 and was scheduled to appear for sentencing July 2 but was continued to July 15. Lake County court documents claim Raelynn M. Charlo died because her husband, McElderry, shot her in the head Nov. 18, 2014.

Galen Hawk pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in the shooting death of his nephew Lonato Moran-Allen Oct. 22

Hawk shot and killed a three-year-old boy in October while intoxicated and playing with the child, Lake County court records said. Hawk is scheduled to be sentenced before District Court Judge James A. Manley July 15.

Desmond Alan Mackay pleaded guilty to felony mitigated deliberate homicide last week in the death of his father-in-law, John Barrows. District Court Judge Deborah Kim Christopher rejected Mackay’s plea deal June 18, automatically re-entered a plea of not guilty on Mackay’s behalf and set his fourth jury trial for Sept. 28.

Mackay, 36 of Polson, killed his father-in-law with a hammer. Mackay was angry with another man and mistook John Barrows, 67, of Polson, for the man he intended to injure with a hammer, court records said. Barrows was in a coma for 10 days at Kalispell Regional Medical Center before dying. Mackay pleaded guilty March 5, 2014, but entered a guilty plea of a lesser charge than the felony deliberate homicide and felony assault with a weapon charges Lake County officials had levied against him.

Harry Lozeau, who pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide Jan. 21, won’t receive the sentencing his lawyers hoped for, according to Lake County Court records. District judge James Manley rejected Lozeau’s plea that would give him a 40-year term with the chance for parole after 20 years. Lozeau withdrew his guilty plea to deliberate homicide and re-entered his plea of not guilty. Manley set a Sept. 14 trial date. Lozeau, 53, of Ronan, is accused of murdering his brother, Terry, 51, after an argument about how to spend Social Security benefits June 14, 2014,  according to Deputy Lake County Attorney Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson.

Lozeau’s brother, Edward Stasso, told authorities that Harry Lozeau was standing on the porch of a Mollman Pass Trail home when he fired a rifle at Terry Lozeau, who was working on a pickup truck, according to court documents.

The shot struck terry Lozeau in the head, killing him, according to witnesses.

The shooting followed an argument between the brothers, who were drinking beer, according to court records.

Makueeyapee Whitford, 34, was convicted of felony deliberate homicide in the death of 26-year-old John James Pierre Jr. was sentenced to 60 years in prison April 29, by Lake County District Court Judge James A. Manley. 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.

Whitford filed a Montana Supreme Court review of his sentence June 2.