Witness to shooting given suspended prison sentence
Jerum Auclaire testifies during Zackary Matthew Maas' deliberate homicide trial in Flathead County District Court on Tuesday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
The man who accompanied convicted murderer Zackary Mass on the night he killed Gabriel Wagoner in a Kalispell apartment received a suspended 10-year sentence for his role in the attack last month.
Prosecutors charged Jerum William Auclaire with felony accountability to assault with a weapon following the March 2022 confrontation that ended with Maas shooting Wagoner in the back. Wagoner eventually succumbed to his wounds in a Seattle hospital.
Maas, who initially faced a felony count of assault with a weapon, was brought up on a deliberate homicide charge following Wagoner’s death. Though he maintained his innocence, a jury found him guilty following a four-day trial in Flathead County District Court in March of this year. In May, Judge Dan Wilson sentenced Maas to 80 years in state prison.
Authorities accused Auclaire of restraining Wagoner after the pair entered his 700 block First Avenue West basement apartment unannounced, holding him while Maas pummeled him.
Auclaire offered his account of the scuffle while testifying in Maas’ murder trial. In his version, Auclaire held Wagoner to keep him from provoking Maas into shooting him and let go as soon as Maas began swinging.
“[Wagoner is] like, ‘You have a gun pointed at me, shoot me. Shoot me. Shoot me,’” Auclaire told the jury. “He starts going toward [Maas]. That’s when I grabbed [Wagoner] around the arms.”
Maas claimed he later shot Wagoner to protect Auclaire — he said he saw the older man about to strike his friend with a baseball bat. But Auclaire told the jury he never felt threatened by Wagoner.
Less than a month after his appearance in front of the jury at Maas’ trial, Auclaire struck a deal with prosecutors. In exchange for pleading guilty to the felony, prosecutors agreed to recommend the suspended 10-year sentence in Montana State Prison. He entered the guilty plea before Judge Danni Coffman on April 7.
Coffman handed down the suspended sentence July 10, granting Auclaire credit for 14 days of time served. She also ordered him to pay $130 in fees and $2,400 in restitution. Auclaire must undergo screening for substance abuse treatment and follow any recommendations.
News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.