Attorney General Knudsen requests domestic violence case documents from Gallatin County Attorney’s Office 

HELENA — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen sent a letter today to Gallatin County Attorney Audrey Cromwell regarding the criminal prosecution of Christopher Wardle in Gallatin County.

Wardle was originally charged with partner family member assault, partner strangulation, witness tampering, and destruction of a communication device. However, Cromwell offered Wardle a plea deal that reduced his charges to one felony witness tampering charge and one violation of a protection order. Under the plea agreement, Wardle was offered a two-and-a-half-year suspended sentence, which would not require jail time.

Attorney General Knudsen noted that the plea agreement cannot be reversed because it has already been signed by Wardle and Cromwell’s office. The district court judge can reject the agreement.

“This case contemplates multiple of these very charges, yet the Wardle plea agreement hardly amounts to a slap on the wrist. It is not hyperbolic to suggest that you are sending a very dangerous message to domestic abusers in Gallatin County: that Gallatin County tolerates this kind of horrendous behavior and that domestic abusers will not be held to account for their crimes,” Attorney General wrote in the letter.

Even more troubling, the Bozeman Police Protective Association condemned the plea deal in a social media post, stating, “similar plea deals and case dismissals around strangulation have been occurring in our jurisdiction,” indicating a lack of trust in Cromwell’s office from local law enforcement.

Attorney General Knudsen requested a written response describing the criteria used by the Gallatin County Attorney’s Office to determine when, and under what circumstances, a domestic violence, partner family member assault, or partner strangulation defendant is offered a plea agreement. Additionally, Attorney General Knudsen requested a list of all Gallatin County District Court cases involving domestic violence, partner family member assault, or partner strangulation prosecutions that were disposed of by Cromwell’s office through either dismissal or plea agreement, along with each case’s final court dispositions, from January 3, 2022, to present.