Killer sentenced to 100 years

A 31-year-old man was sentenced to 100 years in Montana State Prison Thursday for the 2010 shooting deaths of his father and brother and the hostage situation that followed the murders.

Justin Ray Calbick must serve at least 40 years of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole under a decision by Flathead District Court Judge Katherine Curtis.

Calbick wept while reading from a prepared statement in which he apologized for the Jan. 27, 2010, murders of Donald and Stacey Calbick and then holding his estranged wife and others at gunpoint for three hours.

“I now spend every waking minute haunted by what I’ve done,” Calbick said.

His words followed nearly two hours of testimony from family members and friends, some who asked that he receive the maximum sentence available and others who asked that parole restrictions not be attached to his punishment.

His former wife, Sarah Peters, changed her position after previously saying she would rather the case go to trial than see Calbick spend less than 50 years in prison.

She said her opinion changed after she decided to visit Calbick in the Flathead County Detention Center. She said their three children reacted positively to contact with their father, and that she wanted him to have the ability to contact them in the future.

“My minimum number was 50 years because I knew he would be dead by then,” Peters said. “[Now] I want him to live.”

Karen Armstrong, the sister of Donald Calbick and aunt of Justin and Stacy Calbick, shared Peters’ opinion.

She said she and her husband decided to visit Calbick after a memorial service was held for her brother and nephew. She said she was moved that Calbick had taken responsibility for the murders and was remorseful.

Without explaining, she said there were mitigating factors that led to the murders and admitted that her brother was “difficult to deal with” when he’d been drinking.

Armstrong said she would have been alarmed to know that the three — whom she said were all depressed and dependent on alcohol — were spending time under the same roof.

“It was just a recipe for disaster to have the three of them and alcohol,” she said.

Calbick, she said, has “never been anything but remorseful.”

Karen Armstrong’s son, Mark Armstong, was not as forgiving, though he apologized to Calbick for not being able to recommend a lesser sentence.

“These weren’t just mistakes,” he said. “These just weren’t bad decisions.”

Dana Blair, who was among those held hostage by Calbick, told a story about how she fell to the ground after hearing fireworks recently. Blair had convinced Calbick to give her his gun and allow her to leave after he barged into Peters’ home and forced Peters to use duct tape to constrain her father and Blair.

She said Calbick’s actions have had a lasting effect and told him he deserves to serve all of his sentence.

“Your eyes don’t look very remorseful, they look vacant,” she said. “You’re not that kind of person, Justin. It just disturbs me.”

Blair’s husband, James Blair, said he feels like Calbick is escaping punishment for some of his crimes.

“I think you should be looking at the [electric] chair,” he said. “A life for a life. You kill two people, you should die.”

Michael Baer, Calbick’s former neighbor and landlord, asked that parole restrictions be excluded from the sentence. Bob Thornton, a chaplain at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, said Calbick has become a devout Christian since the murders.

Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan said that while he respected Peters’ wishes, he would stand by the recommendations included in a plea agreement signed by Calbick.

He said a fight between Calbick and his brother had all but reached its end on the night of Jan. 27 when Calbick followed his brother to a shed and shot him with a .22 caliber rifle. He said Donald Calbick was lying on the floor of the home having been struck with a wrench when Calbick returned and shot him as well.

“It’s undisputed that the fight essentially was over,” Corrigan said.

He then detailed how Calbick traveled to Peters’ home and ordered her to duct tape her father and Blair while his three young children looked on.

Calbick’s attorney, Vicki Frazier, said that the night represented a “perfect storm” of violence, with Calbick and his brother and father depressed and consuming alcohol.

“In the heat of the moment, the tempers flared and two people ended up dead,” she said.

While reading his own statement, Calbick said his problems were largely due to his family’s dependence on alcohol but added that the blame ultimately falls on him. He said his separation from Peters and the loss of custody of his children, along with the death of his mother, caused him to lose his mental stability.

“I’d give anything in the world to change things, but I can’t,” he said. “What’s done is done.”

Calbick said he understands many people will not accept his apologies.

“The only way I have to show you is to accept the sentence without hesitation,” he said.

Curtis’ sentence includes 40 years for Calbick’s admission to each count of mitigated deliberate homicide and an additional 10 years for each count because a weapon was used. A 40-year sentence for  burglary will run concurrent to the base sentence of 100 years.

The charges of deliberate homicide were downgraded to mitigated deliberate homicide as part of the plea agreement because the murders were committed as Calbick was “under the influence of extreme mental or emotional stress for which there is reasonable explanation or excuse,” according to Montana state law.

Prosecutors agreed to dismiss additional charges of kidnapping, partner/family member assault and assault with a weapon.