Martin City man accused of murder may argue self defense

A man was shot to death outside his Hungry Horse home on April 25 and the man who pulled the trigger may argue self-defense in the case.

James William Quen, 47, from Martin City, allegedly went to the home of Bradley Allen Winters, 33, late that evening and the two had an altercation over money, according to charging documents. The dispute escalated and Quen allegedly shot Winters in the chest with a .38 caliber revolver.

Quen was located shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday, and was placed under arrest. He was charged with deliberate homicide and is being held in the Flathead County jail.

At his arraignment Monday, Quen’s attorney, public defender Greg Rapkoch, suggested he will argue self-defense.

Rapkoch made the argument that Quen was a U.S. veteran, owned his home and believed there is the possibility of a self-defense case.

“It’s not often you see the defendant battered and bruised,” Rapkoch said to Flathead County District Court Judge Eric Hummel. “The $150,000 bond seems oppressive, the most he could post is $50,000.”

Quen was supposed to be arraigned on Friday, but it was postponed because he was in the hospital with heart issues.

But Hummel kept the bail amount at $150,000.

Neighbors who lived in the area said they heard three to six shots shortly before midnight. One woman said she heard the shots, but didn’t leave her house — gunshots in the area are not uncommon, she noted.

The sheriff’s department posted on Facebook that detectives are currently searching for two persons of interest — Shivaun Crothers and Ronald Kevin Lindsethat — who may have witnessed the homicide. Anyone with information on how the department can connect with them is requested to contact 752-tips.

Both the victim and the assailant were known to law enforcement.

Court records indicate Quen’s then-wife filed for divorce and for an order of protection against him in 2004 after she claimed he assaulted a friend of her mother’s. She also claimed he made her have sex with him without her permission.

The divorce was finalized in 2005.

This was not the first time someone has shot at Winters, either.

In December of 2014, Ryan Lee Moskaloff, 38, allegedly tried to kill Winters with a shotgun.

Moskaloff was with two other people on his property in Hungry Horse, according to court documents. They learned that three people had come onto the property and stepped outside to confront them. Moskaloff allegedly emerged holding a shotgun.

The three people later told investigators that they went to Moskaloff’s property to retrieve a Chevrolet Tahoe. One man, Winters, said that he got into the vehicle and then heard a shotgun blast.

Winters scrambled out of the Tahoe and got back into his own truck, according to court documents. He drove away as additional shots hit the vehicle.

A woman who was with Winters, Stormie Winters, told investigators that she dove into the bed of Brad’s truck as the shots struck the pickup.

The third person, C.J. Stordalen, fled in his own vehicle. He and other witnesses said that they saw Moskaloff firing the shotgun, according to court documents. Holes were found on Winters’ truck and on the Tahoe.

Moskaloff is out on parole from other prior convictions, according to Montana Department of Corrections records and wasn’t convicted in the shooting incident.

Winters also had a previous arrest.

According to court records, Winters was charged with aggravated assault in December 2003 after a September 2003 incident at the Deerlick Salon in Martin City. A criminal complaint filed in the case alleged that Winters, along with others, assaulted a man with a baseball bat, sending him to the hospital with severe injuries.

Winters ended up pleading guilty to a felony count of criminal endangerment. He initially received a suspended sentence of eight years in April 2005, but it wasn’t long before law enforcement officials said he had violated the terms of his probation by using drugs.

When Winters was resentenced, his sentence remained eight years suspended and he was recommended for the Treasure State Training Facility. But Winters didn’t stay at the boot camp long.

The state filed another petition to revoke his sentence after he quit the boot camp. Winters was then ordered to serve five of his eight-year sentence at the boot camp.