GREAT FALLS-A judge today sentenced a Browning man who admitted to strangling and assaulting a dating partner in two separate attacks on the Blackfeet Reservation to 51 months in prison and three years of supervised release, U.S Attorney Kurt Alme said.
The defendant, Ralph Kelly Gallineaux, Sr., 42, pleaded guilty in June to strangulation of a dating partner and to assault resulting in substantial bodily injury.
U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided. Judge Morris also ordered $6,817 restitution for the victim’s burned truck.
The prosecution said in court records that Gallineaux strangled the victim, a dating partner, on April 8 after the two had purchased alcohol and had driven to Durham to drink. On the drive back to Browning the two started arguing. During a three-hour period at Gallineaux’s residence, he assaulted, strangled and attempted to smother the victim. The victim told investigators she thought she was going to die and that Gallineaux told her he was not scared of killing someone. When the assault ended, Gallineaux told the victim to leave his house while holding a lit blow-torch. Gallineaux let the blow-torch go out and threw it outside. Law enforcement recovered the blow-torch in the victim’s truck, which he burned.
The victim ran to the hospital and reported the assault. The victim had bruises and scratches on her back, bruising on her neck and injuries to her ears.
The victim also reported to law enforcement that Gallineaux had assaulted her previously in July 2018, when he punched her multiple times in the face and broke her nose. The victim had called 911 and went to the IHS Hospital in Browning.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kalah Paisley prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
