A man has been charged with deliberate homicide for the March 2018 death of a Great Falls man.
Court documents state that on March 23, Lloyd Geaudry in Great Falls died as the result of a single sharp force wound on his left lateral neck, which fractured the cervical spine and transected the left vertebral artery.
The investigation revealed that the fatal injury was caused by a tomahawk, which court documents state was bought by James Michael Parker on March 1, and which witnesses said he carried with him continuously.
The incident happened near the 2100 block of 16th Street South, hen Parker and 10 other people gathered for a fight. During the fight between the two groups of people, a witness told investigators, he saw Parker hit Geaudry in the neck with what he described as a “hatchet.” The court documents state that Geaudry was killed almost immediately after the fight started.
During interviews with all of the people that were part of Parker’s group, they all indicated they did not feel that Parker was justified in using the tomahawk, as “they were getting the upper hand in the fight almost immediately, and the fight only lasted approximately a minute.”
Parker is charged with deliberate homicide for the death of Geaudry, and also two counts of assault with a weapon for allegedly injuring two other people with the tomahawk in earlier incidents.
Prosecutors have requested that bond for Parker be set at $500,000.
