Attorney Argues Self-Defense in Fatal Hit-and-Run in Evergreen

The deliberate homicide trial of a Flathead County man accused of running over a property owner with his vehicle in an Evergreen cornfield in August 2025 is now underway in Flathead County District Court. Jury selection took place on Monday, May 4, with opening statements and witness testimony following on Tuesday.

The 14-member jury panel, which includes two alternates, heard opening statements and witness testimony in the case against Jeffrey Scott Serio, who pleaded not guilty to a felony count of deliberate homicide last August.

Flathead County District Court Judge Heidi Ulbricht is presiding over the trial, which is scheduled through May 13.

Deputy Flathead County Attorney Ashley Frechette told the jury during opening statements that Serio drove over 67-year-old Raymond Maurice “Mory” Grigg, dragging him 40 feet through a power box, a fence and into the Fritz Corn Maze after trespassing on the victim’s property multiple times at roughly 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 19 during a pizza party he was hosting.

“On Mory’s last day alive at his home, he was having dinner with his family and friends over for pizza, a pizza party that ended with the defendant running down Mory with his vehicle, dragging him over 40 feet through a power box, through a fence and into a field,” Frechette said.

According to prosecutors, the defendant had trespassed multiple times that evening. At one point, Grigg spoke with Serio and helped him exit the property over a fence before he returned. During this time, Sara Born, a friend of Grigg’s who lived on his property in a fifth-wheel trailer, called 911 several times after observing Serio exhibiting odd behavior, which included approaching the window of her trailer and hiding in the bushes.

“I anticipate you’ll hear testimony that the defendant is seen driving through the cornfield, through fences and onto the Grigg property in his vehicle,” Frechette said. “He drives through Mory’s property in his vehicle, smashes into the corner of the cell tower, reverses his vehicle, hits Sara’s fenceline and then drives toward the cell tower.”

After Serio ran over Grigg, the prosecutor said the victim was pinned underneath the vehicle, which dragged him before stopping in the cornfield. Serio then abandoned the vehicle and ran from the scene, Frechette said.

According to Serio’s public defender, Alisha Rapkoch, her client “lived in absolute fear” at the time of the incident when he acted in self-defense as part of a fight-or-flight response that she said justified his actions.

After the defendant disrupted Grigg’s pizza party and was escorted off the property, he returned, at which point law enforcement arrived and told Serio to leave while also educating Grigg about Montana’s self-defense laws relating to firearms, according to Rapkoch.

“The idea of using a gun to deal with Jeff has already been planted,” Rapkoch said.

Rapkoch said witnesses will describe an SUV crashing through two barbed-wire fences followed by gunshots, at which point Serio exited the vehicle in a chaotic scene. Serio alternated between shifting into drive and reversing as a reaction to the fired shots, not realizing he hit anybody, the defense lawysersaid.

“When Mory and Sara chose to leave that safety to pursue that SUV with a gun and five rounds at Jeff’s vehicle while Jeff is inside, the evidence will show Mory began firing that gun,” Rapkoch said. “Multiple bullets struck that vehicle but in those seconds, he used the only tool he had — his vehicle — to stop the man shooting at him to protect himself. His SUV did strike and kill Mory and that death is a tragedy.”

During witness testimony, Born told the court she saw Serio trespass on the property multiple times, acting suspicious while holding his chest, which prompted her to call 911.

The last time Serio trespassed, Born saw the defendant in his vehicle revving the engine in the Fritz Corn Maze as he began driving erratically. She then heard gunshots and a crash before Serio exited the vehicle, returned to the property and approached her.

“I said, ‘Get the [expletive] out of my face,’” Born said.

Shortly after, Born heard a “blood-curdling scream” when Grigg’s sister, Cherice Dahlin, found his body.

Witness Fred Kobler, too, said he heard Dahlin scream when he was visiting the Grigg property to return a rental car that the victim owned at the time of the incident.

Kobler, a Michigan tourist who was renting one of Grigg’s vehicles through the rental service Turo, described hearing three or four gunshots accompanied with a vehicle accelerating at a high speed. Shortly after, he heard a female’s voice scream.

“I went over to my wife and said, ‘He’s dead, whoever it is, he’s dead,’” Kobler said. “I knew in my heart that somebody had just died. I have no evidence of that — I just knew it.”

Testimony will continue in Flathead County District Court at 9 a.m.

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