Jury Rules Against Victims’ Families Lawsuit Against Bar in Colstrip

FORSYTH, Mont. (AP) — A Rosebud County jury has found the owners of a Colstrip bar could not have foreseen the fact that a Lame Deer man who was kicked out of the bar in 2009 would return with a gun and shoot and kill two patrons.

Yellowstone Newspapers reports the jurors made the 11-1 ruling Friday after a weeklong trial in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the families of Heath Becker and Spenser Benson. James Ronald Wilson is serving 220 years in prison for shooting the men at the Whiskey Gulch Saloon in December 2009.

David Gallick, attorney for the families, argued employees didn't call police when an intoxicated Wilson assaulted another patron and was kicked out of the bar, and that such a call could have prevented the shooting.

Defense attorney Brad Arndorfer questioned how anyone could have foreseen what happened.