Trial of man accused in deadly Martin City shooting underway

Doug Crosswhite unwittingly learned of his wife’s death while aboard an A.L.E.R.T. helicopter following a deadly Aug. 27, 2022 shooting outside the South Fork Saloon in Martin City.   

“I remember the pilot or the copilot dispatching on the radio to cancel the other life flight,” Crosswhite said in a raspy voice from the witness stand in Flathead County District Court on Monday. “I didn’t really have time to process who the other life flight was for.”  

Crosswhite, whose wife Whisper Sellars died in the gunfire, served as the prosecution’s first witness in the murder trial of Del Orrin Crawford, 42, of Kila. Crawford is accused of pulling out a gun during an argument over a golf cart outside the bar and opening fire, killing Sellars and gravely wounding Crosswhite.  Judge Dan Wilson is presiding over the case.