Campaign Vision for Law and Justice in Gallatin County

2026 Campaign Vision

Reduce Domestic Violence and Prevent Homicide

Violence against women remains a serious public health crisis. Women are the victims of violent domestic crime nearly 75 percent of the time. Over the past three years as your County Attorney, I have taken concrete, measurable steps to address domestic violence, strengthen prosecutions, and prevent homicide in our community.

During my first term, I partnered with HAVEN to implement the APRAIS model for domestic violence, bringing a coordinated, evidence-based approach to how we assess risk and respond to high-lethality cases. I have ensured that my attorneys receive specialized training in sexual assault, domestic violence, forensic child interviewing, and strangulation, equipping them with the knowledge necessary to handle these complex and sensitive cases effectively.

I also created a Major Crimes Team dedicated to prosecuting the most serious offenses against persons in our community. These prosecutors receive the advanced training required to manage high-risk cases, including those involving repeat offenders and escalating violence.

In addition, I partnered with the United States Attorney’s Office in a pilot program to ensure that domestic violence cases involving firearms are prosecuted federally whenever appropriate. Federal prosecution moves more quickly and carries serious consequences, providing another critical tool to protect victims and hold dangerous offenders accountable.

This work reflects my unwavering commitment to taking violence against women seriously. As your County Attorney, I will continue strengthening these partnerships, expanding training, and pursuing every available legal avenue to prevent domestic violence homicides and protect survivors in Gallatin County.

Support Victims and Families

As members of society, we are all charged with protecting the most vulnerable among us. Over the past three years as your County Attorney, I have made it a priority to ensure that those impacted by violent crime receive timely support, meaningful communication, and the assistance they need because caring for victims is fundamental to recovery.

My victim services team, which includes four dedicated advocates, works tirelessly for victims throughout the County. They support hundreds of victims every year, ensuring that victims are up to date on what’s happening with their case, accompany them to court, and even go to trial with them. Our team works every day to uphold the rights of victims as outlined under Montana law, ensuring that those rights are fully met at every stage of the judicial process.

As County Attorney, I have worked every day to ensure that victims and their families are protected from further harm, threats, and harassment by offenders, and that their experience within the judicial system is marked by dignity, respect, and fairness. That commitment has guided my work and will continue to guide it in the years ahead.

This responsibility is especially critical when it comes to protecting children and the elderly. Safeguarding those who cannot always safeguard themselves is not just part of the job—it is one of the most important duties we carry on behalf of our community.

Accountability and Public Safety

For the past three years, I have worked every day to strengthen public safety in Gallatin County by holding offenders accountable and protecting victims from further trauma and harm.

When I took office, the County Attorney’s Office faced crushing caseloads, attorney burnout, and high turnover. Important cases were at risk, victims needed stronger support, and our system was strained. Since then, I have made rebuilding and strengthening this office a top priority.

I successfully advocated for and secured eight additional attorney positions, two additional support staff positions, and a receptionist to better serve our community. I have partnered with the Department of Justice to provide critical support in prosecuting our most heinous crimes. Gallatin County was also selected as a pilot site in partnership with the United States Attorney’s Office to ensure federal prosecution of domestic violence cases involving firearms, increasing accountability for dangerous offenders.

These investments and partnerships have made a real difference, but we are still behind. Based on current caseloads and continued growth in Gallatin County, we need approximately six more attorneys to meet existing demand and ensure every case receives the attention it deserves.

As your County Attorney, I will continue to press the Commission for the additional positions and resources necessary to make sure our prosecutors have the tools, time, and support to do the best job possible. Public safety requires not only strong laws, but a fully staffed and fully supported office that can carry them out. I remain committed to building an office that protects our children, supports victims, and keeps our entire community safe.

In Touch with Our Communities

Over the past three years, I have worked to ensure that the County Attorney’s Office is present, engaged, and responsive to the communities we serve. Public safety challenges are not one-size-fits-all. The needs of West Yellowstone are different from those in Belgrade, and different again from the concerns in Three Forks. Effective prosecution requires listening and collaboration.

To strengthen communication and accountability, I assigned every attorney and victim advocate in my office to a specific agency partner. Each is expected to meet quarterly with their assigned agency, listen to concerns, identify trends, and bring real-time feedback back to our office so we can respond quickly and effectively.

I also assigned all attorneys to participate in collaborative community teams, including the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), the Domestic Violence Response Team (DVRT), the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT), the Drug Treatment Court, and the Felony DUI Treatment Court. These partnerships ensure that we are coordinating closely with law enforcement, service providers, and other stakeholders in handling sensitive and high-impact cases.

In addition, my leadership team and I meet quarterly with the Detention Center, Bozeman Police Department leadership, and Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office leadership to ensure we are aligned, sharing information, and working together as one team focused on public safety.

These structured, ongoing partnerships have strengthened communication, improved case coordination, and ensured that the County Attorney’s Office remains accessible and responsive to every community in Gallatin County. As I seek re-election, I remain committed to continuing this hands-on, collaborative approach so that every community knows its voice is heard and its safety is a priority.

Strengthen Mental Health Support

Gallatin County continues to face serious challenges related to mental health, and over the past three years I have worked to build smarter, more effective partnerships between our justice system and community health providers to better serve those in crisis.

In the past, individuals experiencing a mental health crisis, including suicide attempts, were often taken to the emergency room, booked into jail, or handcuffed and transported to the State Hospital in Warm Springs. That approach placed unnecessary stress on individuals and their families while straining our medical and justice systems, and too often it resulted in short-term stabilization without a long-term plan.

That is why I worked closely with the Gallatin Behavioral Health Coalition to create the Community Commitment Program, an Assisted Outpatient Treatment program designed to keep people in the community with structured support. Instead of cycling someone through Warm Springs for a brief stabilization and then releasing them back to the warming center in Bozeman without a plan, this program connects individuals with consistent outpatient treatment and real accountability.

Through Community Commitment, participants receive hands-on support, including help getting to medical appointments, maintaining medications, and following individualized treatment plans while remaining in the community where their support systems exist. This justice-health partnership reduces jail stays, decreases hospitalizations, and limits reliance on Warm Springs, all while saving taxpayer dollars and delivering better outcomes for the individuals involved.

We feel very good about the progress of this program, and we are already seeing positive results. As your County Attorney, I will continue strengthening these partnerships and expanding solutions that treat mental health crises with compassion, accountability, and long-term stability for both individuals and our community.

Transparency and Accountability

Prosecutors in Montana are not required to publicly share data about charging decisions, plea agreements, or sentencing outcomes. I believe that should change. Over the past three years, I have taken meaningful steps to ensure that the Gallatin County Attorney’s Office leads with transparency and uses data to guide smart, fair policy.

Since 2024, our office has tracked more than 100 data markers related to our cases. These markers include race and gender of both victims and defendants, bail amounts and whether bail was reduced during the life of a case, how long cases take to resolve, whether charges were amended, and whether defendants plead as charged. This level of detail allows us to look carefully at patterns and outcomes across our system.

I am partnering with Prosecutorial Performance Indicators (PPI) to ensure we are measuring the right data in the right way. Our data has been provided to PhDs and statisticians at the University of Chicago, who are conducting an independent analysis to identify any trends or disparities we need to understand from a policy perspective. Their work will help us determine whether changes are needed to eliminate racial, disability, or poverty-based disparities and to strengthen fairness in our system.

Once the analysis is complete, we will publish three to four key data visualizations on our public website, with updated information pulled directly from our case management system. This will give the public a clear, accessible view of what is happening in our community and provide policymakers with the information they need to make informed decisions.

In Montana, Native Americans are incarcerated at nearly five times the rate of Caucasian adults, and African American adults at nearly six times the rate. Greater transparency is one important step toward understanding and addressing disparities. As your County Attorney, I am committed to continuing this work so that our policies are driven by facts, fairness, and accountability to the community we serve.

Improving Mental Health Support for Our Jail Population

Looking ahead to the 2026–2030 term, one of my top priorities as County Attorney is to continue improving how we address mental health in our jail population. Too often, our jails are used as a default safety net for individuals in crisis, even though incarceration is not the right setting for many people struggling with mental illness. This approach can place unnecessary stress on individuals, their families, and the justice and medical systems, and it does not lead to meaningful recovery or long-term safety.

In the next term, I want to explore ways to ensure that people entering the justice system are properly evaluated, supported, and diverted from jail when appropriate. There are a variety of interventions, including community-based treatment, intensive outpatient programs, and coordinated justice-health partnerships, that can reduce repeat arrests, support recovery, and keep our communities safer.

Of course, individuals who have committed violent crimes or pose a real danger will need to be held, but for many, jail should not be the place where they receive mental health care.

During the 2026–2030 term, I will work with the Gallatin Behavioral Health Coalition, local providers, and law enforcement to develop programs that provide real, evidence-based mental health support for those in need while maintaining public safety. This work will ensure that our justice system is not just about punishment, but about helping people access the care they need to thrive.

Immigration, Safety, and Respecting Privacy

Gallatin County is home to a diverse population, including many who came here seeking opportunity, work, safety, and community. Over the past three years as your County Attorney, I have taken principled positions that protect public safety, uphold the Constitution, and respect the privacy and dignity of everyone who lives here.

When the Gallatin County Commission and the Sheriff explored the option of housing immigrants detained by federal authorities in our county jail, I carefully reviewed the proposal and issued a formal legal opinion outlining my concerns. In that opinion, I addressed constitutional due process issues and the potential legal and financial liability the county could face if it entered into an agreement to detain non-local immigrants for the federal government. I made clear that our county resources must remain focused on local public safety responsibilities and that we must avoid unnecessary exposure to risk.

I also recently cross-trained with prosecutors and practitioners who are working on issues involving immigration and law enforcement accountability. My goal was to better understand how local prosecutors can ensure that federal agents, like any law enforcement officer, are held accountable if they violate the law. Accountability protects the integrity of good officers and strengthens public trust.

In addition, I have met with all of our local law enforcement leadership to review immigration-related policies and ensure that our standards are aligned. Clear, consistent policies protect public safety while also safeguarding individual privacy rights. People must feel safe reporting crimes, cooperating with investigations, and seeking help without fear that their personal information will be misused.

As your County Attorney, I remain committed to protecting constitutional rights, defending privacy, and ensuring that every person in our community feels safe. Public safety and civil liberties are not competing values. They are both essential to a just and secure Gallatin County.

Expanding Restorative Justice in Gallatin County

As I look toward the 2026–2030 term, one of my key objectives is to explore and expand restorative justice approaches in our community, particularly for juvenile cases. While traditional prosecution holds offenders accountable, it does not always address the underlying causes of harmful behavior or provide victims with a meaningful voice in the process. Restorative justice has the potential to fill that gap by focusing on repair, understanding, and long-term healing.

During the next term, I plan to develop programs that bring young offenders, their families, and community stakeholders together to acknowledge harm, take responsibility, and work toward making things right. These programs aim to reduce repeat offenses while strengthening community relationships.

I also want to explore the use of victim-offender mediation in appropriate cases. This process would allow victims to communicate safely and directly with offenders, helping offenders understand the real impact of their actions and giving victims a chance to be heard. When applied carefully, victim-offender mediation can complement traditional prosecution and enhance accountability, closure, and healing for all involved.

By prioritizing restorative justice and victim-offender mediation in my next term, I aim to create a justice system in Gallatin County that balances accountability with rehabilitation, supports victims, and builds stronger, safer communities.

Delivering on Promises

Over the past three years as your County Attorney, I have worked hard to turn the goals I campaigned on in 2022 into real results for Gallatin County. From strengthening public safety and protecting victims of violent crime, to improving mental health support, enhancing transparency, engaging with our communities, and partnering on innovative programs like federal domestic violence prosecution, creating the PIVOT Diversion Program and the Community Commitment Assisted Outpatient Treatment program, I have focused on action, not just words.

Every commitment I made has guided my work in office, and the progress we have achieved shows that campaign promises can translate into meaningful change when paired with accountability, persistence, and collaboration. As I seek re-election for 2026, my goal is to continue building on this foundation and advancing new initiatives that protect our community, support victims, and ensure justice is fair, effective, and forward-looking.

2022 Campaign Goals

Below you will find the campaign promises I made in 2022. I am proud to say that I have delivered on every one of them, turning commitments into real results for Gallatin County. From strengthening public safety and supporting victims to improving mental health services and increasing transparency, my focus has always been on action and accountability.

  • ✅ Hold Offenders Accountable

    We all have the right to live in a safe and healthy community. The latest county statistics show that crimes committed can be broken down into property crime (52.8%), drug crime (17.9%), domestic violence (16.5%), which is predominantly perpetrated against women, and violent crime (12.8%).

    As County Attorney, I will continue hold offenders accountable, while investing in the effective tools of treatment options and re-entry support to break vicious cycles of crime and re-offense.

    I support the use of drug courts in District Court. Specialized courts are an effective way to divert people in our communities suffering with addiction from incarceration into effective treatment. This also decreases taxpayer expenditures.

  • ✅ Support Victims + Families

    As members of society, we are all charged with protecting the vulnerable. Caring for those impacted by violent crime through timely support and assistance can be fundamental to recovery.

    As County Attorney, I will continue to ensure that victims and their families are protected from further harm, threats, and harassment by the offender, and that their experience within the judicial system is marked with dignity, respect, and fairness.

    This especially applies to the protection of children and the elderly.

  • ✅ Enhance Public Safety

    Gallatin County must hold offenders accountable and protect victims from further trauma and harm.

    Under my opponent's poor leadership the County Attorney's Office is not meeting community needs: crushing caseloads and attorney turnover due to burnout means important cases are being dismissed, victims are unsupported, and Gallatin County is failing to protect our children and our community.

    As County Attorney, I will work with the Commission to develop a longterm staffing plan, secure additional funding sources such as DOJ grants, and recruit and retain the best attorneys to protect the people of Gallatin County.

  • ✅ Reduce Domestic Violence + Prevent Homicide

    Violence against women is a major public health problem. Women are the victims of violent domestic crime nearly 75% of the time.

    My opponent neither requires (nor provides) trauma informed training to attorneys interacting with survivors of domestic violence.

    As County Attorney, I will require and provide trauma informed training. I will also create a protection unit with prosecutors specifically trained to handle cases involving violence against women.

    I take violence against women seriously.

  • ✅ Mental Health Support

    Our County is facing challenges related to the mental health of our citizens. To support those in mental health crisis and their family members, I will employ a range of programs and partnerships between community health and our justice system.

    Today, people arrested due to mental health crisis (like a suicide attempt) go to the emergency room, to jail, or are handcuffed and transported to the State Hospital in Warm Springs. This short-sighted policy unnecessarily stresses the offenders in crisis, their families, and the justice and medical systems. I will tackle this problem head-on by creating a program to link people in crisis with established community treatment.

    When there are justice-health partnerships for intensive outpatient services, it leads to fewer jail stays, fewer hospital stays, and fewer stays at Warm Springs, all which save the County taxpayer dollars and better serves everyone involved.

  • ✅ In-Touch with Communities

    The County Attorney’s office has been out of touch with the communities it represents. Going forward, I will assign and deploy prosecutors to communities in Gallatin County to talk with stakeholders regarding safety and other current challenges.

    The public safety issues West Yellowstone faces are very different from Belgrade, which are different from challenges in Three Forks.

    I will start a conversation with stakeholders in each community to listen the their needs and identify how the County Attorney’s Office can be of service to citizens throughout Gallatin County.

  • ✅ Transparency

    Today, prosecutors in Montana are not required to share their data with the public in charging practices, plea-bargaining practices, and sentencing of defendants. This is wrong. I will initiate a practice to track and release data to identify and eliminate racial, disability and poverty bias.

    In Montana, the Native American imprisonment rate is nearly 5 times higher and the African American adult imprisonment rate is nearly 6 times higher than the Caucasian adult imprisonment rate. Improved transparency promises to help eliminate implicit bias within the judicial system. Under my leadership, the County Attorney’s office will publish data and make it available to the public.

  • ✅ Redirect Tax Payer Dollars

    Rolling up our sleeves to solve difficult problems together is core to being a good neighbor in Montana.

    As Gallatin County has grown, my opponent has created more conflict than he has resolved through wasteful lawsuits and protracted legal battles with the City of Bozeman, with business owners, and in land-use disputes.

    I am a highly trained mediator and collaborative attorney who skillfully resolves intense conflict. As County Attorney I will leverage my expertise through collaboration and consensus-building to redirect hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars towards building a better future for all of Gallatin County.

  • ✅ Privacy

    Montanans have always valued their right to privacy.

    However, our state legislature may soon vote to criminalize reproductive healthcare decisions made between patients and their doctors.

    My opponent states he will prosecute these private health care decisions. As County Attorney, I will safeguard Montanans' inherent right to privacy by declining to prosecute cases related to reproductive healthcare in Gallatin County.