KALISPELL (AP) – The former leader of a Flathead County militia group has been re-sentenced on federal weapons charges.
David Burgert was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Missoula to eight years and four months in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiracy to possess illegal firearms, possession of a firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
He was originally sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison.
Burgert, accused of leading the militia group known as Project 7, appealed his conviction and sentence. He alleged his punishment exceeded the maximum sentence allowed based on the facts he admitted.
He also accused Chief U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of improperly increasing his sentence because of the risk he caused to others in the February 2002 armed standoff with officers west of Kalispell.
Burgert said Tracy Brockway, who was sentenced to 27 months in prison for weapons violations, was a willing participant when he fled from law enforcement and should not affect the severity of his sentence.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Burgert’s sentence in January 2005, and sent the case back to federal court in Missoula for re-sentencing. His conviction was upheld.
In December, a district judge in Kalispell dismissed the final claims in a lawsuit Burgert had filed against city and county officials. He had accused them of illegally taking personal property and making defamatory statements about him during their criminal investigation.
A federal jury earlier last year sided against Burgert in a separate lawsuit filed against several law enforcement agents.