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Green Gets Life In Prison for Double Homicide

By Maggie Plummer

POLSON -- According to a District Court sentence handed down Thursday by Judge Kim Christopher, 21-year-old convicted murderer J.C. Green will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Both Green and 20-year-old Troy McDonald were sentenced last week for their involvement in the February 2005 murder of Gerald Strucek and Catherine Madplume at the "Bull" Durgeloh home on the Eagle Pass Trail south of Ronan.

While Green faces two back-to-back life sentences in Montana State Prison, McDonald -- who apparently suffers from "autism spectrum disorder" -- was committed to the Montana Department of Health and Human Services for the next 30 years.

Green was found guilty during a jury trial.

For each of the two counts of deliberate homicide, Green got life in prison with no possibility of parole; for a third charge of tampering with evidence, he was sentenced to an additional 10 years in state prison, to run consecutively to the other sentences.

McDonald, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced according to a plea agreement , is expected to serve his sentence at a new secure treatment facility at the Montana Developmental Center in Boulder.

After serving his 30 years, McDonald will face another 50 years of state supervision, according to Judge Christopher's ruling.

For the victim's families, Green's life sentence brought at least a small amount of closure to this emotionally charged case.

Strucek was a student at the Salish Kootenai College and Madplume was a senior at Two Eagle River School. According to the prosecution, Strucek was shot and killed for a relatively small amount of student loan money he'd gotten that day. Madplume was shot and killed as she was looking for Strucek, since he had vanished while they were at a late night party.

During Thursday's hearing, Prosecutor Mitch Young told the court that Green was responsible for "about as senseless a pair of deaths" as he'd ever seen. He called the murder of Madplume "because she was there" a case of "cold-blooded stupidity."

Young also noted that Green "shows no remorse or guilt" and that "he will always need to be locked up."

As he handed down his sentence, Judge Christoper said that Green had "engineered the murders of two friends, using another friend."

She called the double murder a "senseless, horrible and largely remorseless crime," and noted that Green had "used Troy as a weapon."

"You will have the rest of your life to consider the choices you've made," the judge told Green.

Catherine's mother, Carolyn Madplume of Browning, testified during Green's sentencing hearing, describing her family as "still hurting from the loss."

Trying to control her sobs, she told the court that "he (Green) should be put away for life for taking my daughter's life...J.C.'s family can still see him even if he's locked up, but we can't see Catherine."

Josh King, Gerald's brother, took a turn on the witness stand during the hearing, saying that Gerald's death "has ripped our family to pieces." He noted that Gerald had two kids on the way at the time he was killed, and now those two young children have no father figure. "We have anger, rage, pain," Josh said. "A life sentence will work for us."

Green testified at his hearing, saying he was sorry to the family members. He was pale and shaky, and it was difficult to hear or understand his very soft voice as he tried to read a statement he'd written for the occasion.

During McDonald's sentencing hearing Thursday morning, Troy's mother, Sandra Obitt, described her son as "always quiet" and said that his autism disorder had left gaps in his mental development.

McDonald is considered much less criminally responsible for his involvement in the murders due to that disorder.

"He should be held accountable," she to told the court. "We have a tremendous sense of regret over Catherine and Gerald. But we want an environment that allows him to remain a human being. In a prison environment he will regress into his own world."

Troy's attorney, John O. Putikka, recommended that the court follow the terms of the plea agreement, which would have meant 20 years in an "appropriate correctional facility, including Boulder."

He said that McDonald should be supervised 24 hours a day, in as close to one-on-one ratio as possible. "I would request that he not be removed from security," the defense attorney said.

Although Troy is now "legally classified as a violent offender," Putikka noted that he doesn't believe the crimes define Troy as a person. "Troy had no motive," he said. "He did these because of his relationship with J.C....he tends to follow orders. This happened over a long period of time, years."

In sentencing McDonald, Judge Christopher stressed that he must serve the entire 30 years, wherever he ends up.

And, she said pointedly, "this is a criminal sentence, not a treatment plan."

A third defendant in the double murder case, Glen Gardipee, entered into a plea agreement and the state dismissed two charges of felony deliberate homicide. He has pleaded guilty to tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, a felony, and has been sentenced to a 10-year suspended prison sentence.