MISSOULA – Details have been revealed in court documents regarding a motion requesting that immunity be granted to a witness in a double murder in Missoula last year.
Augustus Standingrock is charged with two counts of deliberate homicide after police discovered two bodies in his home on Strand Ave. in August of 2017. According to court documents filed last year, investigators discovered that two bodies had been placed into plastic tubs filled with chemicals, and that the victims had apparently died from stab wounds.
Standingrock’s girlfriend, Tiffany Pierce, is also charged with one count of deliberate homicide and one count of accountability of deliberate homicide.
Standingrock’s jury trial is scheduled for November and his defense team has filed a motion requesting that grant immunity be granted to a witness in the case, Joseph Peasley.
Peasley was a former boyfriend of Pierce who was still in contact with her the day before the homicides occurred.
According to court documents, Standingrock’s lawyer’s motion to grant immunity to Peasley is to try and prevent him from incriminating himself in any testimony. Without immunity, defense lawyers argue that Peasley could not testify honestly out of fear of incriminating himself.
In the motion that was filed, it is stated that Peasley has already faced criminal charges for allegedly lying to law enforcement when questioned in this case.
Peasley has already indicated that he will use his Fifth Amendment rights to avoid testifying, but Standingrock’s defense attorney argues that Peasley should be allowed to decide whether or not to testify after he is granted immunity in the case.
