Wyoming justices uphold sentence in killings, dismemberment

The Wyoming Supreme Court has upheld a much harsher prison sentence than prosecutors recommended for a man who pleaded no contest to killing and dismembering two other men.

The high court ruled Monday a prosecutor didn’t violate a plea deal with Michael Montano with statements at his sentencing that included calling him a “monster.”

Prosecutors had recommended Montano serve 51.5 years in prison for killing 37-year-old Jody Fortuna and 33-year-old Phillip Brewer in Gillette in 2016.

District Judge Michael N. Deegan instead sentenced Montano to 125 years in prison – 60 years on each of two counts of second-degree murder and 2.5 years on each of two counts of mutilation, with the sentences served consecutively.

Kirk Morgan with the State Public Defender’s Office, which represented Montano, declined to comment.