A Hungry Horse woman has pleaded guilty in the Valentine’s Day 2014 shooting death of her boyfriend.
KTMF-TV reports 55-year-old Pamela Ruth Haines pleaded guilty Tuesday to mitigated deliberate homicide during a hearing before District Judge Heidi Ulbricht (ALL’-bright) in Kalispell.
Haines said she shot 71-year-old Thomas Edwards while under severe emotional distress.
Ulbricht granted the state’s motion for Haines to undergo a mental health evaluation at the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs.
If doctors think she has a mental disorder, she would be allowed to amend her plea to guilty but mentally ill and could serve her sentence at the state hospital. If doctors find her judgment wasn’t impaired, her guilty plea would stand and the plea agreement recommends a 40-year prison sentence.
Sentencing is set for Sept. 24.