Eureka man apologizes for shooting

A Eureka man was given a net sentence of 15 years with the Montana Department of Corrections on Thursday for shooting two people outside the Rail Line Tavern in Marion and dealing drugs while awaiting sentencing.

Leif Logan Lee, 28, was sentenced to two consecutive five-year terms for two counts of criminal endangerment for the June 14 shooting.

Summer Mahlen, who was hit by a bullet Lee fired, testified Thursday at his sentencing hearing.

She said she had once dated Lee and that the pair had seen each other earlier on the day of the shooting.

She went out drinking with friends that night.

“The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital and them telling me that I wasn’t going to be able to keep my arm because Leif shot me,” Mahlen said.

Mahlen’s arms appeared to be intact while she spoke from the witness stand, but her life is far from back to normal. She can no longer work as a hairdresser or pick up her children. Mahlen said she had to have four surgeries in the aftermath of the shooting.

Mahlen said she wanted the judge to order a treatment program for Lee.

“I just think he needs some rehab,” Mahlen said. “Drugs didn’t just destroy your life. You let them destroy mine.”

The other victim, a man, did not appear in court. According to court records, Lee shot the man after he tried to intervene in an argument Lee and Mahlen were having outside the bar. Lee fired a gun twice, with one shot hitting the man in the hand and the other seriously injuring Mahlen.

Lee’s attorney Thane Johnson also recommended that Lee be screened for treatment.

“When you are high and you are strung out, you are not the same person,” Johnson said.

Lee would like to become a productive member of society, Johnson said.

Lee issued an apology to Mahlen.

“I just want to say sorry for my actions,” Lee said. “I know that I’ve done something wrong.  I’m so sorry for the heartache, the pain, and the suffering I have caused.”

Lee will have to pay more than $46,000 in restitution to Mahlen and to state programs that helped pick up the tab for medical bills.

He also was sentenced Thursday to a consecutive 10-year sentence with five years suspended for dealing drugs to undercover agents on two separate occasions in August 2015.

The drug sales came just days after Lee’s original guilty plea in the shooting case.

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