Polson man gets 50 years for rape

POLSON (AP) — A Polson man who was charged with trying to hire someone to kill his former girlfriend so she couldn’t testify against him in a rape trial has been sentenced to 50 years in prison without the possibility of parole for two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.

District Judge James Manley also sentenced 57-year-old Dennis Hobbs on Wednesday to five years for stalking and 10 years for witness tampering. Under the plea agreement, Lake County prosecutors agreed to dismiss a charge of solicitation of deliberate homicide.

Manley said Hobbs’ 50-year Montana sentence will begin after he finishes a 15-year sentence in Idaho for a 2005 conviction for false imprisonment and battery.

Idaho Pardons and Parole records indicate Hobbs served about five years before being paroled to Montana.