Trial approaching in attempted murder case

Two juries will have to sort out in early January whether or not a frequent felony offender tried to kill two people in December 2014 and failed to register as a sex offender earlier that year.

Ryan Lee Moskaloff, 38, faces up to life in prison if a jury finds him guilty of the two counts of attempted deliberate homicide and one count of assault with a weapon.

Prosecutors tacked on an alternate charge of criminal endangerment to the assault with a weapon charge on Wednesday. Moskaloff pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors claim that Moskaloff shot at three people who fled his property in two vehicles after trying to retrieve a Chevrolet Tahoe on Dec. 26, 2014. Bullet holes were found in the Tahoe and one of the vehicles that fled with two occupants.

A friend claimed he tried to push down Moskaloff’s shotgun in the incident, causing the weapon to fire into the friend’s ankle.

A jury is expected to take up to a week to reach a verdict. The trial is set to begin Jan. 11, just after another jury decides whether or not Moskaloff failed to register as a sex offender in 2013 and 2014. That trial begins Jan. 6 and is expected to last up to three days.

Moskaloff has been convicted of multiple felonies in Flathead County, including a two-year prison sentence handed down in April for manufacturing dangerous drugs. He is a registered sex offender.

He remains in Flathead County Detention Center.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.