Gunman headed to prison for 15 years

A Whitefish man is headed to Montana State Prison for 15 years after shooting at people on a motorcycle on Aug. 2, 2014 — his latest offense in a series of gun-related crimes — and then fleeing the state.

Christopher Robert Showen, 35, pleaded guilty to felony bail jumping on Dec. 28. He previously was convicted of felony assault with a weapon.

Flathead District Judge Heidi Ulbricht sentenced Showen to 15 years in Montana State Prison with five years suspended for the shooting incident and a consecutive 10-year term with five years suspended for bail jumping.

Showen was caught by authorities in Vacaville, California, on Sept 2.

He had left town when he was let out of jail after he entered an Alford plea to the charge of assault with a weapon. An Alford plea acknowledges a jury is likely to reach a guilty verdict but does not explicitly admit guilt.

Showen was accused of firing three shots at a motorcycle rider and passenger traveling on Montana 35 in the Creston area. The victims said that they encountered a reckless driver who made obscene gestures. When the motorcyclist tried to follow and get a license plate, shots were fired from the vehicle.

Showen’s wife gave a different account of the incident and said while three shots were fired, they were fired into the air from a parked vehicle.

In 2006, Showen received a five-year suspended sentence after entering an Alford plea to conspiracy to commit assault with a weapon. That incident involved a shootout at the Eureka police station.

In 2004, Showen was convicted of misdemeanor reckless endangerment, resulting in a year in jail, after he fired a handgun toward people at a bonfire in Alaska.

In 1999, Showen was acquitted of murder charges in Flathead County.

In that case Showen had been accused of shooting his 19-year-old friend C.J. Storkson and burning Storkson’s car.

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