Spang in jail awaiting new sentences

A man who pleaded guilty in 2002 to a charge connected to a 1999 double homicide is in the Hill County jail awaiting sentencing for failing to register as a violent offender and for violating conditions of release in an assault case.

Jacob Gary Spang, born in 1981, was in the jail this morning on $35,000 bond in the two cases. District Judge Dan Boucher during the change of plea hearing ordered a presentence investigation and set sentencing for Jan. 27.

Spang was convicted of two counts of intimidation by accountability and a count of tampering with evidence stemming from the 1999 murders. The Montana Supreme Court overturned those convictions, saying statements by Spang made after he said he needed a lawyer should not have been admitted in his trial, and sent the case back to court in Havre.

In a plea agreement in 2002, Spang pleaded guilty to one count of intimidation by accountability and was sentenced to 981 days served

Reid Danell, also born in 1981, pleaded guilty in 2000 to two counts of deliberate homicide in the 1999 murder and is serving two life sentences.

The petition to revoke Spang’s release on a sentence for a 2010 charge is on his third charge of partner or family member assault, a felony. His first charge on that count, a misdemeanor, was in 1999. He pleaded guilty to that charge.

He was charged with felony aggravated assault in 2002, after the plea agreement in the murder case charges, which later was reduced to a second count of partner or family member assault, also a misdemeanor.

In 2010, he pleaded guilty to a felony count of partner or family member assault and was sentenced to three years, all suspended.

Last week he pleaded guilty in a plea agreement to failing to register as a violent offender after he moved to a new address. Spang had the approval of his probation officer, but failed to notify the Hill County Sheriff’s Office as required.

He also admitted to nine violations of conditions of his release in the 2011 sentence on the partner or family member assault charge, including failing to pay fees and fines, failing to report to his probation officer, failing to complete chemical dependency treatment, failure to remain law abiding including several traffic citations as well as driving under the influence and evading law enforcement, and 18 counts between March 23, 2011 and May 23, 2013, of using alcohol and drugs including methamphetamine, marijuana, and prescription drugs.