Two Brothers Sentenced In District Court For Incest

Two brothers from Glasgow are incarcerated after both were sentenced for committing incest with their younger sister. Now 19, she was removed from the home in July 2007 and put in foster care. She had a child and is now living in another city, receiving therapy.

On July 6, Andrew Lee Nix, 21, was given two concurrent sentences of 17 years in the Montana State Prison with 12 years suspended. He is required to complete Phase I and Phase II of inpatient sexual offender treatment before his release. Judge John C. McKeon ordered him to pay restitution with his brother of $24,053 for his sister's future therapy needs and for her foster care expenses. 

He has been designated a Tier II sex offender. According to court documents, he is not violent but he may re-offend. He is to have no unsupervised time with persons under 18 or vulnerable persons. He is allowed no contact with the victim, whose child he fathered.

Elias Nix, 25, was sentenced by Judge McKeon on July 13. On Count 1, he was sentenced to six years in prison, with all but 30 days suspended. He received the same sentence for Count 2. On Count 3, he was given a three-year sentence, with all but 30 days suspended. All these sentences are to be served consecutively in the Valley County jail. He was credited for two days served, so he will serve a total of 88 days.

The judge explained that the consecutive sentences allow for 15 years of supervision, a reasonably long period, as recommended by his psychological evaluator. He is designated as a Tier I sexual offender, the lowest of the three tier levels. He may not take a job with or be near persons under 18.

In addition, he must pay up to half of the restitution of $24,053.

If the sheriff allows it, Elias Nix may have work release from jail. After he has served 30 days, with the approval of his probation officer, he may petition to serve the balance of his sentence at a residence separate from his family with electronic monitoring. 

Elias Nix has been married for almost six years and has two young children. He is employed. 

His sister testified via Vision Net, asking that he be allowed to participate in an outpatient treatment program because he hasn't offended for nine years and his family needs his support. 

"I don't want my niece and nephew to not know their father," she said. "I know what that's like. I met my father three or four times."

The judge specified that he may not return to his family until he has completed sex offender treatment. He may have contact with his children if this is approved by his therapist and probation officer.

According to court documents, the dysfunctional cycle behavior started early with these brothers. Elias Nix was molested by his father, who is still under supervision for this 1989 felony. 

The brothers began having sexual contact with their sister in 1997, when she was 6, and this continued for about nine years. Elias Nix's sexual contact with her ceased when he moved out of the house in 2001.

Andrew Nix had a previous sexual misconduct history with another girl, felony intercourse without consent when he was 12 or 13 years old. He received counseling, but did not tell the counselor that he was that he was abusing his sister at the time.

Karla Nix, the mother of these three, has denied knowledge of sexual contact between her sons and her daughter, according to court documents. She said she believes her daughter shared some of the responsibility. She made statements that she felt they were "experimenting."