County Attorney’s Office turns to state for help prosecuting homicide cases

Struggling with a shortage of attorneys, the Flathead County Attorney’s Office received approval last week to draw on the state Department of Justice for help prosecuting a trio of homicide cases.

The office is down four attorneys with another set to depart shortly, said County Attorney Travis Ahner. The staffing shortage prompted his office to arrange for the appointment of special county attorneys via the state Prosecution Services Bureau through the Montana Department of Justice. 

Commissioners approved the request Feb. 22. 

The special county attorneys are expected to serve on the Kenneth Floyd negligent homicide case and the Del Crawford and Kaleb Fleck deliberate homicide cases. 

Floyd, 38, is accused of drunkenly running over his ex-wife, Kimberly Gilham, in Martin City in June 2023. Crawford, 41, allegedly shot and killed Whisper Sellars while wounding her husband, Doug Crosswhite, during a 2022 dispute over a golf cart in Martin City. Fleck, 19, is accused of killing Scott E. Bryan, a homeless man, in the parking lot of a Kalispell gas station in May 2023.

Staffing problems at the County Attorney’s Office are not new. In May 2023, commissioners gave deputy county attorneys a 9% wage increase in an attempt to improve recruitment and retention. At the time, the office was down three attorneys. 

“We're down to less than 50% of our felony attorneys and struggling to retain people. There's a lot of stresses, obviously, with this job but some are kind of unique to the Flathead,” Ahner said, pointing to scheduling practices in the county courthouse. 

While acknowledging the boost to wages given by commissioners last year, Ahner said pay remains behind other attorney positions in the community. Several of the cities offer better salaries, he said, and there is the allure of the private sector.

“And remote work has also become sort of another thing that's contributed to our issues,” he said. “People can work remote for big firms and get that type of money, and these days even with government jobs — state jobs and federal jobs — there are remote options that weren't available five years ago.”

The pool of applicants is growing ever smaller, Ahner said, and the region’s housing crunch has worsened the situation. Applicants withdrawing after taking a look at housing prices has grown commonplace, he said. 

“The commissioners helped us out last year, but we're still struggling,” he said.

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.