Missoula Crime Report: Attorneys are Working Hard on Upcoming Trials

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The Missoula County Attorney’s Office filed 15 new felony complaints this week, which is six more than last week and right around the weekly average. Chief Deputy County Attorney Mac Bloom provided the report this week.   

“We charged four family violence strangulation crimes, one non-family violence robbery crime, four endangerment crimes, two property crimes, three drug crimes, and one administrative crime,” Bloom said. “I was just looking back through some of the data from the last couple of years. We're 12 weeks into the year and in 2023, we had charged 145 cases by this point. In 2024, it was 141, and this year, it's 136.” 

Bloom said many attorneys in the office are busy with trial preparations right now. 

“We have one trial going on right now,” Bloom said. “We have another one that's starting Monday and then another one starting the following Wednesday, the 9th. Our attorneys are very busy doing witness interviews, drafting jury instructions, preparing their exhibits (which is just a term for the physical evidence), going over trial outlines, and putting in a lot of time. It is not uncommon for our attorneys to put in 50 or 100 extra hours of overtime working on these trials to get them ready for a jury.” 

Bloom said the state has the burden of proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt. He said they have a lot of work to do to make sure their witnesses and evidence are shored up and ready to go.  

READ MORE: Missoula News - Crime Reports

“Andrea Haney is preparing for Monday,” Bloom said. “She's actually in trial now, and then she's going again on Monday. She's putting in a lot of work. Brittany Williams is going to be in trial on Monday with Andrea. Sarah Woolman's going to be in trial the following week on the 9th. They've been putting in a lot of time and doing really good work. We are very proud of our attorneys.” 

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office provides a weekly crime report every Friday morning at 9:00 on Talk Back. You can listen to Bloom’s full report below: