A Butte policeman who was engaged in a high-speed chase and shootout with two men suspected of killing a Broadwater County deputy believed he would be calling the family of a fellow officer to tell them he'd been killed.
Then, when he saw muzzle flashes up close and heard bullets "coming over my head," Police Lt. John O'Brien said he envisioned that he, too, would be killed and another officer would have to inform his family.
"I was in fear for everyone's life," O'Brien told jurors in the homicide trial of 65-year-old Lloyd Barrus. "I thought they would not only kill me but every officer who was there."
There were more than a dozen there, and though suspect Marshall Barrus was mortally wounded in the shootout off of I-90 in Missoula County in May 2017, his father, Lloyd Barrus, was only hit in the hand and dropped his gun, police said.
He didn't immediately comply with shouted orders to get his hands up and drop to the ground, officers testified Wednesday and Thursday, and they weren't sure if he was going to pick up or draw a gun and start firing again. Still, they stopped firing until they knew.
"Why didn't you shoot?" prosecutor Stephanie Robles, an Montana assistant attorney general, asked O'Brien.
At that precise moment, O'Brien said, Lloyd Barrus was not a threat.
Powell County Deputy Austin Micu was also in the shootout and gave a similar reason.
"A person has the ability to change their mind at the last second and not pick up a firearm," he said.
Marshall Barrus had clearly taken a round to the head and was down, and as soon as officers knew he was immobile, they started rendering first aid.
Robles asked O'Brien why.
"Our number one priority is to preserve life," he told her as jurors looked on. "It doesn't matter if it's the victim of a shooting or a suspect in a shooting, we are professionals and society demands that we be professionals and not take vengeance."
Prosecutors say Lloyd and Marshall Barrus were on a "suicide mission" and shortly after 2 a.m. on May 16, 2017, they provoked Broadwater County Deputy Mason Moore by passing him on U.S. 287 south of Townsend and driving 100 mph.
They say Moore was struck in the face by a bullet through his windshield, his car stopped in the grass just south of Three Forks, and he was alive until the Suburban returned four minutes later and additional gunshots from a semi-automatic rifle ended his life.
Butte- Silver Bow police spotted the Suburban westbound on I-90 about an hour later and started a 90-mile chase that ended in Missoula County. Bullets fired from the Suburban knocked two Butte patrol cars from the pursuit, but by then, troopers and police from several counties were involved.
Lloyd Barrus is charged with deliberate homicide by accountability, two counts of attempted deliberate homicide by accountability and one count of assault on an officer. Each of the homicide charges carries a possible life sentence.
O'Brien and Missoula County Deputy Michael Hash testified Wednesday and Micu was among officers who testified Thursday. All took part in the shootout and said the firefight started immediately when the Suburban stopped.
It was around 4:35 a.m. and still dark and O'Brien and Micu said they saw muzzle flashes coming first from the passenger side of the Suburban, where Marshall Barrus was ultimately shot. They returned fire then saw muzzle flashes from the driver side.
After Lloyd Barrus dropped his gun, they said, he moved past the back of the Suburban and bent down — apparently to check on his wounded son — then moved back around before finally putting his hands up and walking backward.
Hash said two officers then rushed him and tackled him in the middle of the interstate, which can be seen and heard via body cams. No officers were injured in the shootout but Marshall Barrus died from his wounds.
Prosecutors say Lloyd Barrus had strong anti-government and pro-militia views and they played a part in that day's events. Just after he was cuffed, they say, he told an officer "We're just evil militia."
Defense attorneys say their client was only trying to avoid a DUI and keep his son out of more legal troubles when the chase with Moore began, and they have suggested through questions at trial that there's no proof he turned the Suburban around and had a direct role in Moore's death.
They have also tried to cast doubt that Lloyd Barrus actually fired at officers during the shootout. But prosecutors have yet to rest their case, and when they do, defense attorneys Greg Jackson and Craig Shannon can present their own witnesses and direct testimony.
The trial was moved to Butte because of pretrial publicity and testimony began Sept. 9. It is likely to last into next week and maybe longer.
Robles, Assistant Attorney General Daniel Guzynski and Broadwater County Attorney Cory Swanson are the lead prosecutors in the case, though others are assisting for the state.
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