KALISPELL — A man charged with killing two people in Bigfork in 2022 was found guilty on one count of deliberate homicide by a jury on Monday afternoon.
Derrick Jackson was found guilty in the death of Stanley Grotberg in October of 2022. However, the jury found Jackson not guilty of deliberate homicide in the death of his mother Tricia Demotts.
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The jury heard the closing statements from the prosecution and defense on Monday morning.
The prosecuting attorney Katie Handley presented evidence of the case before encouraging the jury to find Jackson guilty.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the evidence in this case has shown that on October 28, 2022 at 120 Esteban Lane, the defendant, Derrick Jackson killed his mother, Tricia Demotts, and her boyfriend, Stanley Grotberg," Handley said. "When he fired two bullets from a Smith and Wesson pistol into each of their heads.”
The defense said in their closing statement they believed Grotberg killed Demotts and Jackson killed Grotberg in retaliation.
Defense attorney Thomas Schoenleben brought up a lack of evidence in his statement.
“How many questions do we have that have been unanswered? I can think of dozens, if not at least 100 myself," Schoenleben said. "But what has been presented to you, what has not been presented to you should cause you a lot of questions and the questions are imperative because they all add up to reasonable doubt. One question is enough for reasonable doubt.”
Jackson is scheduled to be sentenced on April 29.
- information from Derek Joseph included in this report
