MISSOULA – A Missoula man convicted of raping an unconscious woman after finding her in a downtown parking lot is headed to prison for at least 20 years.
Shane Pelletier was charged with raping a woman in 2017 after finding her intoxicated to the point of being passed out and taking her back to his apartment.
While he claimed the sex was consensual, the victim said that she was unconscious and that there was no way she would have given consent.
A jury found Pelletier guilty back in January.
Judge Greg Pinski found Pelletier had exhibited no remorse throughout the trial, sentencing him to a 40 year prison sentence with 20 years suspended. He could be eligible for parole in 8 years.
“There is nothing about Mr. Pelletier that exhibits any remorse whatsoever for the violent crime that he committed or the harm that he imposed on this victim,” Pinski said.
“This is highlighted most pointedly by Mr. Pelletier’s bravado attitude in his psychosexual evaluation where he bragged about his sexual prowess in high school,” he continued.
“This cavalier attitude is the same one that Mr. Pelletier has exhibited at every stage of these proceedings and it makes him a more dangerous sexual predator, because he is totally unaware and apathetic to the harm that he has caused.”
Pelletier’s case pre-dated a change in Montana law requiring a mandatory minimum sentence for rape cases, so he was sentenced under the old rules.
