Woman sentenced in Hungry Horse murder

The 56-year-old Hungry Horse woman charged in the shooting death of her boyfriend on Valentine’s Day was sentenced Sept. 24 in Flathead County District Court to 40 years in state custody.

Pamela Ruth Haines pleaded guilty to mitigated deliberate homicide on June 24 for the murder of 71-year-old Thomas Edwards.

Haines was arrested Feb. 14 at a mobile home on First Avenue West in Hungry Horse after she reportedly called 911 and told dispatchers she had shot her boyfriend. Edwards had been shot once in the chest with a .380-caliber automatic and died at the scene.

According to initial charging documents, the shooting followed an argument between the couple, who had recently moved to Hungry Horse from California. Haines allegedly admitted shooting Edwards after she was transported to the county jail.

Haines had pleaded not guilty to a more serious charge of deliberate homicide on March 13 and faced from 10 to 100 years in prison if convicted.

District Court Judge Heidi Ulbricht accepted the amended charge on June 24 and granted the prosecution’s motion asking that Haines undergo a second mental health evaluation at the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs as part of a June 23 plea agreement.

A mental health evaluation found Haines was “unable to conform her conduct to the law.” She will be placed be under the direction of the Department of Public Health and Human Services and remanded to the Montana State Hospital instead of the Department of Corrections.

Members of Edwards’ family and friends attended the sentencing hearing. His ex-wife, daughter, son and grandson each spoke on the stand about the father, grandfather and husband they lost.

“There’s never going to be closure for us,” Edwards’ daughter, Jennifer Anderson said later. “It’s very disturbing that she could be paroled. We’re just thankful that the judge came through with that sentence.”

A statement prepared by the family said that Edwards had moved to Flathead County from California to spend his retirement close to his daughter, son and grandchildren and was excited to spend time with his grandchildren, fly fish, and sing and play music with his family.

“He was only here five months when she took him from us,” Tommy Edwards said.