BOZEMAN — A Three Forks man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he shot and killed two brothers during an argument after a night of drinking in the town of Three Forks.
Zachary Norman, 24, also pleaded not guilty Wednesday to two counts of tampering with evidence for trying to clean his clothing and hide the murder weapon.
Norman is charged with two counts of deliberate homicide in the Jan. 15 deaths of Brendan Estabrook, 32, and Chase Estabrook, 31.
District Court Judge John Brown maintained Norman’s $1 million bail.
Investigators learned Norman had been at a bar with a group of people, including the Estabrook brothers, and that the group decided to go to a residence in Three Forks after the bars closed early on Jan. 15.
The shooting was reported just before 3:30 a.m.
A witness told investigators that he saw Norman arguing with the brothers and that they got into a physical altercation outside the house before he heard shots being fired, court records said. The brothers died at the scene. Norman was arrested at his father’s house. The gun was found in his father’s closet.
Norman’s public defenders, Alex Jacobi and George Isham, declined to comment after Wednesday’s hearing, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported.