Plea deal expected in murder-for-hire case

A Lake County prosecutor and a defense attorney say they’re close to reaching a plea agreement in the case of a Polson man charged with raping his former girlfriend, then stalking her and trying to hire someone to kill her to prevent her from testifying against him.

Deputy Lake County Attorney Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson told District Judge James Manley on Wednesday the agreement will cover all the charges against Dennis Hobbs. Hobbs’ attorney, Ben Anciaux, said his client had one concern with the deal that he believed could be quickly addressed.

Manley gave both sides a week to finalize the plea agreement before Hobbs’ next hearing.

Hobbs, 58, was charged last month with solicitation of deliberate homicide, stalking, and tampering with witnesses and informants. He was charged last year with two counts of sexual intercourse without consent and assault with a weapon after his ex-girlfriend reported Hobbs had raped her.

Lake County prosecutors allege that after Hobbs’ father posted his $100,000 bond after the August 2013 rape arrest, Hobbs drove by his ex-girlfriend’s residence and her place of work, sent her flowers, made hang-up phone calls and several times asked the nephew of the Ronan police chief at the time if he could find someone to kill her.

The chief’s nephew, Wayne Kibler, said Hobbs told him that payment for the killing would be a detailed map of an isolated residence filled with guns, coins and other expensive items that the killer would be able to steal, charging documents said.

Court records say Hobbs has an extensive criminal record, mostly in Idaho, that includes burglary, grand theft, aggravated assault, kidnapping and domestic battery.