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Luke Strommen Guilty of Rape

A jury of 12 found ex-Valley County undersheriff Luke Strommen guilty of sexual intercourse without consent in the afternoon hours of July 17 at Valley County District Court in Glasgow.

The State proved that Strommen began raping a 14-year-old girl while she stayed in a hotel room with the family in Great Falls in September of 2009. In the night, Strommen initiated intercourse with the girl, who was too young to consent, and continued to repeatedly meet the girl to rape her throughout the course of the following months to years.

Using only witness testimony, corroborating witnesses and an indirect phone call admission by Strommen to the victim's mother, the prosecution argued in closing arguments that the conviction hinged on whether the victim's testimony was credible or not.

"As a society, we strive for a world where 14-year-old children are not sexually assaulted," stated Assistant Montana Attorney General and Prosecution Services Bureau Chief Dan Guzynski during closing arguments. He went on to argue that when children do disclose rape they are not responsible for what that adult did to them. "All [the victim] did was fall for the very unsophisticated trap [by Strommen]."

The verdict was the close to a trial that was over two years in the making.

In May of 2018, the Valley County Sheriff's Office, under the previous Sheriff, released a press release that cleared Strommen-although he remained unnamed at that time-in an investigation into professional misconduct. At the time, Strommen was campaigning to be the next sheriff. In mid-June of that same year, Strommen was placed on paid administrative leave while the Montana Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, looked further into allegations of misconduct.

As time marched on and Strommen remained on administrative leave, the nature of the investigation was still unknown to the general public, but he eventually dropped out of the sheriff's race in August before the outcome of the inquiry became known.

In the fall of 2018, Strommen was charged with the first of two felony sex charges. The initial charge of felony sexual abuse of a child in October, was the first public indication of the investigation into Strommen. He pleaded guilty to the charge in 2019, admitting that he had received a partially-nude image of a 17-year-old girl with whom he was having an affair with while in his mid-30s. He was sentenced and was to serve no jail time as part of a plea deal with the state.

Following the public reporting of that charge, the rape victim testified to what charging documents had already stated, that she had heard of the case against Strommen and feared it would lead back to her. She contacted her mother, disclosed the rape to an adult for the first time, and through a series of events she began working with investigators.

Strommen was charged the day after Christmas 2018 with sexual intercourse without consent. He pleaded not guilty in January 2019. With pretrial hearings and motions, the trial was originally scheduled for the summer of 2019 then was delayed to the fall of 2019 before it was delayed again following the plea deal on the sexual abuse of a child charge. The sexual assault trial was originally scheduled for early March but was delayed until last week.

In the end, the verdict was in after the weeklong trial, six state witnesses, two defense witnesses, two rebuttal witnesses, a constant barrage of public health interferences, numerous breaks, four hours of closing arguments and nearly three-hours of deliberations that, ultimately, affirmed beyond a reasonable doubt the state's case and found Strommen had, in fact, raped the victim when she was just 14-years-old.

Strommen was immediately arrested after the verdict was read and is detained at the Valley County Detention Center. Sentencing is set for Aug. 28 at the Valley County Courthouse. He faces life in prison or a sentence of no more than 100 years or no less than four years.

Reached for comment, Strommen's lawyer, Jason Holden, said he was unable to comment on the outcome of the trial citing the fact that the case was still heading to sentencing in late August.

"It would just be inappropriate to comment with the case still ongoing," said Holden.

Reached for comment, Department of Justice spokesperson, Jim Barnes, said the department does not comment on ongoing court cases. He added that even when a case is concluded at trial there are still sentencing hearings and appeals that the state will need to argue in the future.

 

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