Raugust, county reach settlement

After spending 18 years in the Montana State Prison and having his conviction for deliberate homicide overturned, Richard Raugust agreed to a $5 million settlement with Sanders County and a former deputy, who is alleged to have withheld evidence that would have greatly assisted in his defense.

Raugust filed suit for damages against the parties at the end of 2019 in state district court, after the State of Montana denied his claim for $97 million for compensation for his loss of liberty, pain and suffering, punitive damages, attorney fees and lifetime medical costs and expenses. The case was moved to United States District Court in early 2020. The settlement, reached December 28, comes just ahead of the trial that was scheduled to begin this month.

Raugust was one of the first clients freed for the Montana Innocence Project, where investigators worked for a decade to gather enough evidence, which led to Judge James Wheelis reversing Raugust’s 1998 conviction, then dismissing all pending charges with prejudice in September 2016 in the civil case filed for post-conviction relief. Raugust was accused of the murder of his best friend, Joe Tash, in 1997. Judge Wheelis found that there had been Brady violations with evidence suppression at the original trial, regarding an event witnessed by a deputy the night of the murder that was not disclosed in reports or at trial. Deputy Wayne Abbey witnessed the vehicle that Raugust and two other men left the Naughty Pine in, making a brief stop in front of a home, during which the dome light inside the vehicle lit up. Deputy Abbey said it was too dark to see if a person exited the vehicle, however, this information would have been used to support Raugust’s alibi, discredit the State’s timeline and version of events, and allow jurors to assess the credibility of other witnesses.

In interviews conducted by the Innocence Project investigators, other people who were present the night of the murder stated that another man, Rory Ross, confessed to Tash’s murder several times. Ross was the driver and owner of the vehicle that was witnessed leaving the Naughty Pine in Trout Creek that night. Additionally, sworn statements from jurors and other observers in the courtroom alleged that Judge C.B. McNeil, the original presiding judge in the criminal case, made comments to the jury regarding the county not being able to afford a second trial if they remained deadlocked.