Flathead man sentenced for 2023 killing of homeless man in Kalispell

Convicted murderer Kaleb Elijiah Fleck on Monday received a partially suspended 50-year sentence to the Montana State Prison for the deadly beating of a homeless man in a dark Kalispell parking lot in 2023. 

Fleck, 20, pleaded guilty to one felony count of deliberate homicide in February after reaching a deal with prosecutors. He had initially professed his innocence in the slaying of 60-year-old Scott Bryan, a homeless man who crossed paths with Fleck and a friend outside a gas station at the intersection of Appleway Drive and North Meridian Road on June 25, 2023.  

Judge Heidi Ulbricht, who presided over the case, stuck to the prosecution’s recommended sentence in Flathead County District Court on March 31. She suspended 10 years of the 50-year sentence and ordered Fleck to pay restitution to cover Bryan’s funeral costs as well as court fines and fees. He received credit for 11 days of time served and was designated a violent offender.  

Ulbricht said the sentence accounted for Fleck’s age at the time of Bryan’s death, lack of criminal history and an evaluation that showed him to be at low risk for reoffending. It also addressed the severity of the crime, she said.  

“Kaleb Fleck brutally assaulted Scott Bryan causing an open skull fracture and part of a nasal bone protruding out of his forehead,” Ulbricht said while handing down the sentence. Fleck left Bryan in the parking lot, never calling 911 or summoning help, she said.  

Fleck’s defense attorneys, Sean and Julianne Hinchey of Hinchey and Hinchey, unsuccessfully argued for a 40-year prison sentence with 20 years suspended. They also asked that Ulbricht put the 21 months Fleck had spent wearing a GPS monitoring device toward his time served, a request she rejected.  

Fleck, now the father of a young child, paused to hug friends and relatives in the courtroom before being led away, stone-faced, by detention center officers. His hands were clasped behind his back, one rhythmically squeezing the other as he departed. A crumpled tissue was caught between them. 

He had offered only a few apologetic words before learning his sentence.  

“I just like to say ... how sorry I am,” he told the court. “Since this happened, not a day goes by that I don’t think about it.” 

Prior to the sentence coming down, a parade of Fleck’s friends and relatives took the witness stand to testify on his behalf. While acknowledging that Fleck had admitted to beating a man so badly that he later died, they described his actions as a mistake. Some sought to push blame onto others, including the victim and society at large.  

Family friends Troy and Katie Zander remembered Fleck as a quiet and respectful young man who never instigated a fight. Fleck had grown up alongside their son and was one of a pack of boys who ran through their house on a regular basis, they said.  

Troy Zander said he had spent time with Fleck since Bryan’s death and recalled the two of them fishing together. His remorse was visible, Zander said.  

“You can see it in his eyes. He knows the weight of the situation,” Zander said. “I know him well enough; this is not what he intended to do.” 

Kayla Mahlen, Fleck’s mother, told the court that she believed her son was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people. Helpful, quiet and a Christian man, he would only have turned to violence to protect himself, she said.  

“He went out one time with a friend that he probably shouldn’t have been with and it was a mistake. An accident,” Mahlen said. “And everybody makes mistakes.” 

In seeking a lighter sentence, Julianne Hinchey described Bryan as on methamphetamine, and amphetamine among other drugs as he emerged out of the darkness and came toward the vehicle that Fleck was sitting in with a friend. He was rambling, she said, and he went for the passenger side door, which is where Fleck was sitting.  

“He made a grievous mistake,” she said of Fleck’s response. “This terrible event, it does not represent the person that he is.” 

She also cited the wider strife in the community over homelessness at the time. While homeless people were reportedly being targeted for violence in Kalispell, they were also committing violence, she said.  

For evidence, Hinchey pointed to the Johnathan Douglas Shaw murder trial, which began in the week’s following Bryan’s death. She described Shaw, who was convicted of killing a Fuel Fitness employee, as a transient living in the gym’s parking lot.  

Shaw had outfitted a trailer as a living space after his father’s death, according to testimony and court documents. The two had previously lived together in a Kalispell apartment.  

“Is it reasonable to believe a transient man who is on drugs is going to hurt me in the middle of the night? Is it reasonable to think this person ... is going to stab me or shoot me? What if I’m 19 years old? This question should be answered under the circumstances at the time,” Hinchey said.  

But prosecutor Caitlin Creighton told the court that the arguments made in Fleck’s support suggested that the life of a drug addict, a homeless person, was worth less than someone else’s. 

“There has been commentary on the victim’s past or whether he had used drugs. The defendant didn’t know any of that at the time he killed him,” Creighton said. “What we see now is an effort by the defense to explain the defendant’s behavior after the fact, by commenting on Mr. Bryan's history and trying to make him sound less than.” 

Prosecutors later played a video posted to the social media platform Snapchat following the deadly beating. It featured Fleck and another man celebrating.  

A handful of relatives and friends spoke on Bryan’s behalf during the sentencing. Sean O’Neill of Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana recalled the relationship he struck up with Bryan as he sought to help him secure housing in the Flathead Valley. The two spoke about 36 hours before Bryan’s killing.  

Bryan, O’Neill recalled, was bruised and battered from a previous attack.  

“If you knew [Bryan], he couldn’t defend himself,” O’Neill said. “He had already been beaten. He was terrified of the things that had already happened, happening again.” 

Bryan’s sister, Holly Torska, told the court that the 60-year-old had weathered myriad struggles over the year. He suffered a brain injury early in life, and battled epilepsy and cancer, which resulted in the loss of a lung. 

His health conditions meant he could not work, she said. They also meant he posed little threat to Fleck, she said.  

“Scott wanted to be a productive member of society but that was not the hand he was dealt,” Torska said.  

She urged residents of Kalispell to show more compassion toward their neighbors, particularly those struggling. 

“Being unhoused is not a crime. But being beaten to death is,” Torska said. “Please don’t let Scott’s death be for nothing. We beg the people of Kalispell to open their hearts, show compassion, be tolerant of those not like yourself and get to know your community. ... Words matter and so do all lives. No one gets to decide to take one.” 

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

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    Kaleb Elijah Fleck is shown at his sentencing hearing in Flathead County District Court on Monday, March 31. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider