Updated: Judge sentences Hubber, Jaeger to 40 years for fatal Butte bounty hunt (2024)

A judge sentenced two men convicted in the shooting death of a Butte man during a botched bounty hunt to 40 years each in the Montana State Prison on Thursday, even though only one of them pulled the trigger.

Whelan sentenced Jay Steven Hubber to 60 years in prison for deliberate homicide by accountability but suspended 20 of those years. He gave Hubber 20 years for aggravated burglary but that will run concurrently to the longer sentence.

In a separate hearing four hours later, Whelan gave Nicholas John Jaeger the same sentence for deliberate homicide and aggravated burglary.

Prosecutors say Hubber and Jaeger charged into William Harris’ home recklessly and unlawfully on Dec. 19, 2021, looking for bail jumper David Sandoval and during a struggle with him, Jeager grabbed Hubber’s gun and shot Harris.

A jury convicted the two men of the charges after an eight-day trial in March.

“They both played very different roles in the outcome but their culpability in the outcome seems to weigh very similar to one another and I can’t — I can’t seem to get that out of my mind,” Whelan said at Jaeger’s sentencing.

In both hearings, Whelan gave condolences to Harris’ family.

“No sentence that I give is going to bring Mr. Harris back or remedy the loss that’s been experienced by the family,” he said.

In the morning hearing, Whelan said he knew Hubber didn’t go into Harris’ house that night with any intention of killing anyone.

“However, I cannot ignore the facts and circ*mstances under which everything transpired,” Whelan told Hubber. “At best you were negligent in your conduct — more appropriately probably grossly negligent in your conduct, which resulted in the death of William Harris.”

Prosecutor Kelli Fivey asked for a combined 100 years in prison for Hubber on Thursday while Hubber’s attorney, Palmer Hoovestal, asked for a 10-year suspended sentence.

Prosecutor Ann Shea asked for the same 100 years for Jaeger while defense attorney David Maldonado requested a 40-year prison term with 20 years suspended.

Harris was shot in the chest and the face and he was dead when police arrived minutes after the shooting. Sandoval fled the house but was quickly in police custody.

Hubber maintains that Sandoval had violated his bail contracts and had bench warrants so he had authority to apprehend him. Jaeger says he shot the gun but only because Harris was coming at him with a knife.

Defense attorneys say the home was a “trap house” where drugs are sold and used and several people confirmed that during the trial. Authorities say everyone inside during the shooting — including Hubber, Jaeger and Harris — was drunk or high or both.

Fivey reiterated Thursday what she told jurors in March — that the case was about Harris more than anything or anyone else and a series of choices and reckless actions led to his death.

“The bottom line is a man lost his life in his own home,” Fivey said.

She said Hubber didn’t pull the trigger but is responsible for Harris’ death.

“He is responsible for getting intoxicated that night,” Fivey said. “He is responsible for having drugs on board. He is responsible for bringing a gun. He is responsible for bringing Nick Jaeger, someone who had never done that before — completely untrained.

“And he is ultimately responsible for valuing money (bond debt) over life,” she said.

Hubber also spoke, saying he believed he had the legal authority to enter Harris’ home that night to apprehend Sandoval. But he said he should not have brought Jaeger, who had no experience in bail apprehensions, and took accountability for what happened.

“The safety of everyone was my responsibility and I failed,” Hubber said. “I brought a man with me who had no military, police or recovery experience of any kind into a hostile, life-or-death situation.”

He also apologized to members of Harris’ family who were in the courtroom.

“With all my heart I am sorry for the loss of Bill,” Hubber said.

Shea said Jaeger was a convicted felon who was wanted on a bench warrant himself the night he joined Hubber and discounted a “defense theory” that deliberate homicide in Montana requires planning.

“While I think we can all agree that this deliberate homicide was not planned, that it was not premeditated, it’s still an incredibly serious and heinous crime that resulted in the loss of Bill Harris’ life,” Shea said.

Maldonado said Jaeger should not have joined Hubber on the bounty hunt that night and once in the house, “He was in so far over his head.”

But he reiterated what Jaeger told police that night and later told jurors — that he didn’t want to shoot.

“He did give multiple warnings before pulling the trigger,” Maldonado said.