POLSON – A Browning man has pleaded not guilty to deliberate homicide in the stabbing death of a 26-year-old Polson man.
Makueeyapee Whitford is accused of stabbing John Pierre Jr. March 16 outside a Polson home where a party was being held.
Charging documents say Pierre was stabbed once in his upper sternum and the wound caused him to bleed internally to death.
Authorities say the 32-year-old Whitford was arrested at a motel less than an hour later with a blood-stained folding knife in his pants pocket.
KERR-AM reports Whitford entered his plea Wednesday through his public defender at district court in Polson.
District Judge C.B. McNeil set an Aug. 5 trial date and a May 22 pre-trial hearing.
Whitford is being held in the Lake County Jail on $1 million bail.