Murder-for-hire charge dropped

A criminal charge was dismissed Monday morning against a 38-year-old Kalispell felon who had been accused of soliciting his cellmate to murder two people. 

Shortly before a jury trial was to begin, the charge of felony solicitation of deliberate homicide against Matthew Heuer was dropped. 

Heuer had been accused of asking his jail cellmate to kill his ex-wife, Tarsha, and her crime victim advocate, Janiece Hamilton, in exchange for a pickup truck and cash.

The case had prompted an outpouring of support for Hamilton and Tarsha Heuer on March 27 when Matthew Heuer pleaded not guilty. 

The women were joined in court by nearly 20 women including other crime victim advocates and representatives from the Abbie Shelter, all of them wearing large purple buttons that read “Proud to be a victim advocate — We won’t stop until the violence stops.”

Tarsha Heuer, her friends and her victim advocates are dumbfounded by the turn of events. 

“There is so much evidence against this man, about what he’s done,” Tarsha Heuer said. 

She filed for an order of protection on Monday afternoon for herself and her four children, two of whom are Matthew’s.   

According to Matthew Heuer’s attorney Sean Hinchey, the county attorney’s office dismissed the charge with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled. 

“The county attorney said that it was done in the interest of justice,” Hinchey said. “I think they dismissed it because when they looked at the evidence they had, they believed they couldn’t prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” 

“I think what this boiled down to is that [the county] rested their entire case on untrustworthy jailhouse snitches.”

County Attorney Ed Corrigan and Deputy County Attorney Kenneth Park could not be reached for comment Monday. 

Park, Tarsha Heuer and her current victim advocate Jamie Rogers were on a three-way phone call Sunday night during which Park advised her to be at the courthouse at 11:30 a.m. Monday.

Rogers said that during Sunday night’s phone call, Park told Tarsha Heuer that the charges would be dismissed. Tarsha Heuer responded, “You know I’m dead, right?” According to Rogers, Park apologized repeatedly. 

“He didn’t have any answers,” Rogers said.

Tarsha Heuer was waiting for a judge to approve or deny the order of protection Monday afternoon. 

“It’s just a piece of paper, not a bulletproof vest,” said crime victim advocate Monica Huffman, who is also working with Tarsha Heuer. “They’re not foolproof.”

Court documents show that the case was dismissed at 8:50 a.m. A jury trial was originally set to begin at 9:30 a.m., but prospective jurors at the courthouse were sent home. 

Matthew Heuer had been convicted of felony criminal endangerment in February for firing a gun at his neighbor. He was sentenced to five years with the Montana Department of Corrections followed by five years of probation. The Department of Corrections determined that Heuer would be able to participate in the Intensive Supervision Program, which would allow him to serve his sentence at home wearing an ankle bracelet.  

Four days after that sentencing, his cellmate at the Flathead County Detention Center told staffers that Heuer had asked him to kill his ex-wife and a Flathead County victim advocate. 

According to a court document, the cellmate said Heuer woke him up one night and asked him to kill the two women in exchange for a Toyota pickup truck with a clean title as well as some cash. 

After a search warrant was issued, the cellmate wore a recording and transmitting device while talking with Heuer. The two spoke for half an hour and Heuer allegedly described in detail how the cellmate should kill his ex-wife and that he also wanted the other woman killed. 

The two had only been cellmates since Heuer’s Feb. 13 sentencing. 

According to court documents, Heuer’s voice was difficult to understand on the recording. The recording was sent to the FBI for enhancement and the court later ruled that the enhanced recording was permissible to use in court. 

According to state law, a conviction of solicitation of deliberate homicide carries a sentence between 10 and 100 years to life in the Montana State Prison. 

As a result of his earlier criminal endangerment conviction, Matthew Heuer will be serving what is essentially house arrest for five years while wearing an ankle bracelet.  

He still has visitation with his children, ages 8 and 11. The parenting plan allows Heuer visitation every other week during the summer and three weekends a month during the school year. 

According to Tarsha Heuer, when she told her 8-year-old daughter that the charges against the girl’s father had been dismissed, the girl told her mother, “He’s going to come and kill you.”

“It’s sad to hear an 8-year-old say that,” Tarsha Heuer said. 

As Huffman put it, “What we’ve found in these cases is that the expert is usually the victim. They’ve lived it. And when the victim says that she believes she’s going to be killed, she’s probably not wrong.” 

Tarsha Heuer, along with Rogers and Huffman, are working out a safety plan for her and her children. The first step was requesting the order of protection. 

“We just want to keep her and the children safe,” Rogers said. 

Reporter Brittany Brevik can be reached at bbrevik@gmail.com or by calling (406) 758-4459.