Burgert sentence revised

Militia leader gets less time in prison

Former militia leader David Burgert, convicted of firearms offenses, was re-sentenced Friday in federal District Court in Missoula.

Burgert, of Evergreen, was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison, a $600 dollar special assessment, and three years of supervised release for conspiracy to possess illegal firearms, possession of a firearm, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Burgert originally was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison.

Chief U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy sentenced Burgert to seven years in prison in September 2003 for possessing an illegal machine gun and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

That arose from a pursuit by the SWAT team in the woods west of Kalispell in February 2002. When Burgert was captured, he was gripping a converted machine gun.

Burgert was sentenced to an additional three years in 2005 in connection with a conspiracy to possess illegal firearms along with other members of the paramilitary group called Project 7.

It was Burgert's first conviction and sentence that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on in January 2005, sending the case back to Molloy for resentencing.

Burgert said Molloy improperly increased his sentence for "recklessly creat[ing] a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another person in the course of fleeing from a law enforcement officer."

With Burgert when he ran from officers was Tracy Brockway, who was sentenced in January 2005 to 27 months in prison for weapons violations.

Burgert argued that federal law defines "another person" as anyone except a participant in the offense who willingly participated in the flight. If Brockway willing participated in the flight, she does not qualify as "another person" and so shouldn't affect the severity of Burgert's sentence.

Besides that issue, the appeals court found there could be merit in Burgert's argument that his sentence violated sentencing rules because it exceeded the maximum sentence the court could have imposed, based on the facts he admitted.

The 9th Circuit did not overturn Burgert's conviction as he requested.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com