TOWNSEND — Four months ago, Lloyd Barrus was convicted of deliberate homicide by accountability in the 2017 killing of Broadwater County Sheriff’s Deputy Mason Moore. On Friday, Barrus was back in court in Townsend for a hearing that could determine where he’ll spend his sentence – in the Montana State Hospital or in prison.
District Court Judge Kathy Seeley presided over the first day of a two-day hearing, taking testimony that will help her determine whether Barrus is “guilty but mentally ill.” His attorneys argue that, at the time of the crime, he suffered from a severe delusional disorder that meant he didn’t have the capacity to “appreciate the criminality of the defendant’s behavior or to conform the defendant’s behavior to the requirements of the law.”