The next day Stillings changed the rear tires on his car, cleaned off the bloody tire iron, and soon thereafter left for Seattle. Then the two fled from the area returning to town where they picked up friends, so that they could establish an alibi. Stillings testified that he picked Vicki up and thought she was dead.
He dropped the tire iron and backed off." What happened after you grabbed his arm? A. I jumped out of the car and grabbed his arm. And what did you do then, if anything? A. How many times did you see him strike her, do you recall? A. And in what position was she in when she was lying on the ground? A. Fred ducked back into the car and he grabbed the tire iron, and he started hitting her. And do you know what she meant by that? A. After these two acts Vicki got out of the car and his story of what happened then is: "Q. Then, according to Stillings, defendant had intercourse with her. There Stillings suggested that Vicki have intercourse with him and when she refused he put a knife to her throat and forced her to have intercourse with him in the back seat of the car. The story relating to the killing, as told to the jury by Stillings, was that he and defendant picked Vicki up late in the evening of February 23, 1971, and after riding around town they took Vicki to an area known as the Wadsworth Park. Accompanied by his attorney, the county attorney and three deputy sheriffs, he took them to the scene of the killing. He told them the story of what happened the night of the killing, where he and defendant were, who they were with both before and after the killing. Stillings told the officers that defendant had killed the girl. Arrangements were made to return him to Great Falls, where he made another statement. Stillings was arrested in Seattle, *115 Washington, where he gave three deputy sheriffs a statement that he had killed Vicki Renville. Although it is not clear in the record, it appears defendant implicated Michael Stillings. He told the investigating officers he wanted to help them and they obtained his release from the Missoula County jail in the custody of the Cascade County sheriff. On March 6, 1971, some two weeks after the murder, the sheriff received word from defendant, then confined in the Missoula County jail on an unrelated charge, that he wanted to talk to the sheriff and give him information concerning the death of Vicki Renville. This statement was given in the presence of two other deputies.
Defendant informed the deputy he was at his trailer all evening, watched TV and went to bed. He also testified the body showed two small recent tears of the hymen that in his opinion the girl had been dead at least eight hours and, that she had lived an hour or more after the blows had been inflicted.ĭuring the investigation a deputy sheriff interviewed defendant the day after the body was found, as to his whereabouts on the night of the murder. Henneford testified that she died from multiple blows to the left side of her head, fractures of the skull and from extensive bleeding within the cranial cavity. Immediate investigation instituted by the sheriff's office of Cascade County, led to the arrest and conviction in separate proceedings of two men, defendant and Michael Stillings.Īfter making an on-the-spot investigation of the murder site, the sheriff had the body examined by Dr. The body of Vicki Renville, a teenager, was discovered by a motorcyclist on a county road near Great Falls, Montana on February 24, 1971. He was tried by a jury in the eighth judicial district, county of Cascade, the Hon. Matteucci, Deputy County Atty., Great Falls, for respondent.ĭefendant Fred Lee Perry appeals from a judgment of conviction of second degree murder and life sentence in the state prison. Fred Bourdeau, County Atty., argued, Great Falls, Arthur G. *114 Ralph Randono, argued, Great Falls, for appellant. 505 P.2d 113 (1973) The STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Respondent,įred Lee PERRY, Defendant and Appellant.