Hinson back in court - 25 years later

The Daily Inter Lake

A day of reckoning in court was postponed Thursday for Acrel Lindon Hinson.

Convicted by a jury in 1980 of armed robbery, Hinson was sentenced to 25 years in prison with all but six years suspended. He served his prison time, but remained under the auspices of the Montana Department of Probation and Parole for the full 25 years.

Just six months or so before that long sentence was to be lifted, Hinson was arrested for violating his parole. He was arrested as he slept in a car parked near Helena.

Hinson, 55, always denied he was the man who robbed a Circle K store in Columbia Falls, but a jury didn't believe him.

After he served prison time, Hinson moved around the country, at first obtaining permission from his probation officer as required. Eventually, he stopped checking in and vanished, officials say.

A warrant was issued for his arrest. In November, Hinson was arrested on the warrant when the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office checked out a report of a man sleeping in his car at Mt. Helena, ran Hinson's identification and found that he was wanted.

A hearing on Hinson's alleged probation violation was postponed Thursday.

District Judge Ted Lympus will wait to learn if Hinson has been law-abiding during his years outside the control of the Montana probation and parole department.

Hinson is defended by Kalispell attorney Bob Allison.