Montana
Montana man charged with homicide admitted into state psychiatric hospital after year-long wait
BILLINGS— A Montana man charged with deliberate homicide was admitted into Montana State Hospital for psychiatric help after waiting more than a year.
Terrell Lee Spottedwolf Sr. was accused of murdering 48-year-old Susan LaForge in 2023.
Watch to see why Spottedwolf was waitlisted:
Montana man charged with homicide admitted into state psychiatric hospital after year-long wait
Yellowstone County District Judge Colette Davies ruled in October 2024 that Spottedwolf was mentally unfit for trial, requiring him to receive psychiatric care.
His defense attorney, Joe Zavatsky, confirmed Wednesday that this client had been moved from Yellowstone County jail to the state hospital. Zavatsky told MTN News jail officials did not specify when Spottedwolf was moved.
“It completely deteriorates the idea of due process for a person to sit waiting for months and months to a year waiting to get to a state hospital,” Zavatsky said.
The case underscores Montana’s problems with finding appropriate care and bed space for people with mental-health problems who are accused of crimes. Currently, the only option for treatment is Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs, although Gov. Greg Gianforte said Wednesday that the state must move forward on building a new $26 million eastern Montana mental-health facility, which, ideally, could house suspects like Spottedwolf.
Justin McKinsey
“It just pauses everything. It allows witnesses to go cold. It has impacts on how a case is developed,” said Zavatsky.
The attorney said admission into the hospital may allow Spottedwolf to go forward with the trial in the future.
MTN News reached out to a family member of the victim but did not receive a response.
Watch Q2 previous coverage of family remembering Susan LaForge:
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There was no bigger game on the Week 2 schedule than No. 2 South Dakota State traveling to No. 3 Montana State on Saturday night.
As we do each week, we go behind the numbers of the biggest FCS matchups, using success rate to get a deeper look than what the final score may tell you about what happened in the game. We will still analyze games from across the FCS later this week, but we had to take a deeper look at the biggest FCS non-conference matchup of the year.
Success Rate is a statistic that tracks how often a team is ‘successful’ on a down-to-down basis. It looks at how a team consistently performs. The Average Success Rate for a college football program is about 40%, while closer to 50% is considered excellent, and anything under 30% is deemed poor.
Success rate takes out a lot of the underlying factors of a game and strictly tells you how well a team played down-to-down. While outliers can swing an individual game, success rate can be a better indicator of what future performance will be. A play is “successful” if 50% of the yards needed are gained on first down, 70% are gained on second down, and 100% are gained on third or fourth down.
We take a look behind the numbers from South Dakota State’s thrilling overtime victory over Montana State.
Success Rate: SDSU (41.5%), Montana State (40.8%)
South Dakota State won the most exciting game of the weekend, which spanned two overtime periods in a nationally-ranked matchup. Almost every statistic you can find will tell you this game was played about as evenly as a game can be played. SDSU barely edged Montana State in success rate, while the Bobcats edged the Jackrabbits in yards per play (4.9 to 4.6).
Both teams missed a field goal and lost two fumbles, which led to crucial points for the other team. Montana State was 5-for-15 on third down, while South Dakota State struggled, finishing 1-for-13 on those opportunities. More importantly, Montana State failed to convert its only fourth-down attempt, ultimately sealing the win for SDSU. The Jackrabbits converted on a crucial fourth down in Montana State territory on a scoring drive in the fourth quarter, finishing 1-for-2 for the game.
What’s interesting is that each team only produced one drive over 55 yards. Montana State had two promising drives that ended in a fumble, while South Dakota State was able to capitalize on a blocked punt early in the game for a two-play touchdown drive.
Montana State found more success on the ground compared to SDSU. The Bobcat running backs averaged 5.23 yards per carry and generated 94 yards before contact, compared to SDSU’s running backs, who averaged 4.15 yards per touch and 75 yards before contact. Despite this, Julius Loughridge led all rushers with 99 yards on 23 carries.
Both defensive lines were excellent. Montana State generated four sacks and eight tackles for loss, making several big stops down the stretch. Defensive ends Kenneth Eiden IV and Hunter Parsons led the way for the Bobcats. Eiden had a 17.4% stop-rate, while Parsons posted a 12.5% stop-rate.
South Dakota State had six tackles for loss and was excellent at generating pressure on quarterback Justin Lamson. The Jackrabbits generated 17 pressures on 38 dropbacks and made Lamson uncomfortable all day. Logan Green led the way with five pressures, while Kobe Clayborne and Dawson Ripperda combined for six pressures. Ripperda led the defense with a 14.3% stop rate.
The main difference in the game was Chase Mason’s connection with wide receiver Lofton O’Groske. O’Groske finished with 12 catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns. No other SDSU wide receiver had more than two receptions. The statistic that really changed the game was O’Groske’s ability to win 1-on-1 matchups. He had four contested catches on five contested targets, posting an 80% contested catch rate. Taco Dowler and Dane Steel were the only other players in the game to record a contested catch, combining for three.
Chase Mason did a great job avoiding turnovers while making plays in key moments when they needed to be made. The negative to this game is that he continued to struggle when under pressure. Montana State was able to turn 50% of its pressure into sacks, while Justin Lamson faced more pressure, but did a much better job avoiding the negative play with only 21.4% of his pressures ending with a sack.
Both of these teams flashed a lot of potential while showing they have a long way to go before they hit their ceiling. South Dakota State certainly has to feel good, moving to 2-0 with two ranked wins, giving the Jackrabbits an early advantage to earn one of the top seeds in the FCS playoffs.
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MISSOULA — Montana finally kicked off its 2025 college football season on Saturday, Sept. 6.
The sixth-ranked Grizzlies hosted Central Washington inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium. It was the first game of the season for Montana, while Central Washington entered the game coming off a 41-14 win over Colorado Mesa.
Watch a condensed replay of Montana’s game versus Central Washington in the video above.
BIG SANDY — Ron and Gay Pearson might not be household names, but just about everyone in Montana knows who they are.
“We’ll be walking like, say, in the store in Great Falls and somebody will call, ‘There’s the melon man!’ or the melon lady,” said Gay, co-owner of Pearson’s Big Sandy Cantaloupe.
Tim McGonigal reports – watch the video:
Montana Ag Network: Big Sandy couple has sweet success with cantaloupe farm
For more than 30 years, Pearson’s Big Sandy Cantaloupes have been a hit at grocery stores and farmers markets across Montana.
“We took them to Winifred and Big Sandy grocery first, and they just absolutely loved the cantaloupe. They couldn’t get enough of it,” Gay said.
But the work to grow the melons was painstaking.
“We hand planted them, we hand rolled the mulch. Everything was done by hand. The watering was done by hand, all of it,” Gay said.
Things got a little easier when they took advantage of a ready-made labor force.
“But, our two sons were pretty big guys. And then our third son came along and our daughter, and they all helped with it,” Gay said.
Gay grew up on this farm. She remembers a time when it almost was lost.
“One time they were going to put, the dam across down here, and I was probably three years old, and I was heartbroken because it would cover our whole area and our ranch would be gone,” Gay said.
MTN News
The only thing sweeter than the fruit might be the chance to be with family.
“There’s nothing better than that. And I mean, it’s just, you know, and it’s just, actually, there’s four generations of us now that are involved in the cantaloupe. And, how often does that happen?” said Ron.
Montana might not be considered a melon growing mecca, but the Pearsons have found their piece of produce paradise thanks to fertile soil combined with excellent conditions.
“And it’s hot down here. The evenings. The nights don’t really get cold. They stay warm. So the melons just keep growing,” Gay said.
Gay Pearson said the way they water the melons also makes a difference.
MTN News
“We run through a ditch to water them. And then they go through black plastic pipes. So the water is very warm when it goes on to the plants. So they don’t have the shock of cold, you know. And I think that makes a huge difference on them,” Gay said.
The Pearsons also raise cattle and quarter horses, and they grow grain. But from the end of May until the first hard frost, it’s all about the cantaloupe, which they hand-pick starting in mid-August.
“Usually in a pickup there can be, I don’t know, 800 to 1,600 pounds. On the most given, markets that we’re leaving on Friday night, we have three pickup loads,” Gay said.
From curious deer to pesky grasshoppers to the unpredictability of mother nature, the cantaloupe business has challenges. But for the Pearsons, getting to work with family is something they not only cherish, it’s something they’d like to continue.
“I’m hoping that, one of our kids or grandkids will really get involved in this, and, just keep it going. I hope it does. You know, I’m 70, so it’s not going to last forever for me,” Ron said.
Working with family, getting recognized by just about everyone, the Pearsons are enjoying the fruits of their labor.
“You know, it seems like there’s not too many places that we don’t go that somebody doesn’t recognize us, so it’s pretty cool,” Ron Pearson said.
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