Meyers felony conviction surfaces

Bruce Meyers, who was elected Tuesday to the Montana House from District 32, was convicted on an assault of a minor that took place Aug. 20, 2005.

The political blog “Montana Cowgirl” posted an entry Thursday about Meyers’ conviction on a charge of assaulting a minor. It has been picked up by blogs around the country since.

The conviction had not been reported before the election in which Meyers defeated incumbent Democrat Clarena Brockie in a major upset.

Meyers said this morning that the whole situation is behind him.

“It involved a single incident with my son,” Meyers said. “It was over nine years ago. I’ve paid my dues. I have my relationship with my son fully restored.”

Meyers added that everything is mended between him and his son, and they see each other often.

He said that he has character references from the presiding judge and several pastors in the area who would speak on his behalf.

He said he did not know if this would affect his new position.

The 32nd district, which includes Rocky Boy and Fort Belknap Indian reservations is overwhelmingly Democrat.

Andrew Brekke, the chair of the Hill County Republican Party, said that the recent spread of information about Meyer’s felony charge will not change anything.

“All I know about it is it happened,” Brekke said. “He served his time and has moved on with his life.”

Brekke said that the felony was wrapped up in struggles he has with his marriage years ago, but that has all settled down. His kids helped him with his campaign and Meyers had dealt with the consequences of the felony.

“He’s in a good place right now,” Brekke said.

Brekke said that there have been people with felony charges serving in political positions before and there is nothing wrong with Meyers being in his.

Brenda Skornogoski, Hill County Democratic chair, said she didn’t know enough about the situation to comment.

The Montana Correctional Offender listing on Meyers reports he assaulted the minor on Aug. 20, 2005, and was sentenced to four years suspended on March 10, 2006. He served his sentence with the last update on his status listed as on March 1, 2010.

A jury convicted Meyers of the charge of assault on a minor, a felony charge which was filed in Broadwater County Aug. 26, 2005. He appealed the conviction.

In its decision on the appeal — which upheld the conviction but sent the case back to the judge, Jeffrey Sherlock, to set a maximum amount of restitution, the Montana Supreme Court reviewed the particulars of the case.

In the trial, Meyers’ then-wife, Victoria, testified that she heard screaming from her son’s room — she had with Bruce Meyers five of his eight children — and found her then-husband hitting their 8-year-old son with a flip-flop sandal. She said Meyers hit the child 12 to 15 times with the sandal.

She took the children from the house and went to the police to file a complaint about the assault, the Supreme Court decision about the appeal says.

Meyers maintained throughout the trial that he was disciplining his son, not assaulting or abusing him.

Judge Sherlock imposed the suspended sentence on conditions including that Meyers not reside in Broadwater County unless he had a job there. Sherlock cited Victoria Meyers testimony in the trial and at the sentencing hearing that the children were afraid to go outside while he was in town and that “Meyers’s mental and physical abuse over the years made herself and all five children victims of Meyers’s behavior,” the Supreme Court decision says.