One of the four people allegedly involved in the murder of a 34-year-old Kalispell man last year pleaded no contest to accountability to deliberate homicide on April 27.
David Vincent Toman appeared in Flathead County District Court before Judge Dan Wilson a month after the judge refused to accept the defendant’s plea because he wavered on his involvement in the murder. Toman is scheduled to be sentenced on July 13. Prosecutors and the defense are expected to recommend a 30-year sentence to Montana State Prison with 15 years suspended.
Toman was one of four people arrested in June 2016 following Wade Allen Rautio’s murder near Creston. According to court documents, Melisa Ann Crone ordered Robert Wittal, Christopher Michael Hansen and Toman to kill Rautio, who was living in her Evergreen home at the time. Wittal was charged with deliberate homicide, and Crone, Hansen and Toman were charged with accountability to deliberate homicide. Crone was also charged with criminal possession of drugs.
Wittal was convicted of homicide at trail in October 2016 and sentenced to 110 years in prison earlier this year.
On March 15, Crone pleaded guilty to felony criminal distribution of dangerous drugs and in return prosecutors agreed to drop the accountability to homicide charge. Crone will be sentenced on May 25, and prosecutors and the defense are expected to jointly recommend a 40-year sentence to the Montana State Prison with 20 years suspended. Hansen is expected to appear in court at a change of plea hearing in May.