GREAT FALLS – A Great Falls woman who pleaded guilty to killing her mother in May 2017 has been sentenced to 40 years in the state psychiatric hospital.
Pamela Jean Courtnage was sentenced Monday to the custody of the Department of Public Health and Human Services and will be held at the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs, District Court Judge Elizabeth Best said.
Courtage, 49, pleaded guilty in September to mitigated deliberate homicide in the death of Katherine Courtnage of Big Sandy, the Great Falls Tribune reported.
Katherine Courtnage, 69, suffered blows to the head and her throat was cut while she was helping her daughter make repairs at her house, Cascade County prosecutors have said.
During her change of plea hearing, Courtnage said at the time of her mother’s death she believed her family had placed microchips inside her head in order to harm her. Courtnage has been diagnosed with a mental illness that causes her to have delusions, a state psychiatrist testified during the case.
Pamela Courtnage had previously been committed to the state hospital for psychiatric treatment, court records said.
Prosecutors did not make a sentencing recommendation, but defense attorney Matt McKittrick sought a 20-year commitment.