HELENA — A 22-year-old Helena man has been convicted of deliberate homicide for shooting his girlfriend in the head as she sat in a car last July.
Skyler Schneider faces up to 100 years in prison when he is sentenced on June 20 for the death of 23-year-old Katherine Elizabeth Spencer.
Prosecutors said Schneider reported the shooting and officers found a 9 mm handgun in the bushes near the car. Schneider said he and Spencer had been arguing, but he denied shooting her.
Defense attorneys argued Spencer’s ex-boyfriend could have been the killer because he had given her the gun used in the shooting. Detective Chad Lawrence said investigators never considered Spencer’s former boyfriend a suspect.
The Independent Record reports the 12-person jury reached its verdict Friday evening. The trial had started on May 14.