by William Skink

Thanks to an alert reader we now know that Johnny Lee Perry, the 29 year old man involved in an altercation at the Poverello Center that left Sean Stevenson dead, has a warrant out for his arrest in either another county in Montana, or another state (more likely another county).

We know this because Perry was booked on an extra-jurisdictional warrant yesterday at 10:44pm, processed, then released on January 14th at 11:36am.

To be fair, this warrant could be for anything. For example, if I hadn’t paid the bullshit traffic ticket I got the other day for obstructing a turn lane (thanks to our inadequate transportation infrastructure) I would have a warrant and could be taken to jail if stopped again by law enforcement.

That said, I continue to be amazed this guy is not being charged with at least aggravated assault for KILLING another person in a fight while presumably under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.

Let’s do a quick recap: Perry has no permanent address in Missoula, he wasn’t cooperative on the night of the altercation with police when asked to blow for intoxication, and now he’s in and out of jail again because he’s wanted for doing something unlawful somewhere else.

So, after this second arrest, in which Perry had to be stupid and/or impaired enough to come into contact with law enforcement again, will he maybe face a high bond to keep him in County detention while the County Attorney’s office figures out if they want to charge him with?

Nope, Perry gets a warm place to stay for the night and is out the next day in time for lunch. What the hell is going on here?

The County Attorney’s office is not obligated to wait for an autopsy report in order to file charges against Johnny Lee Perry. They must need more information because they are lacking in some other area to make a case.

In a crowded homeless shelter I would think there would be enough people with direct knowledge about what happened. I would also think, if there are witnesses, that they might be scared to be seen as “snitching” if they talk to the authorities, the same authorities who released the guy directly involved in less than 24 hours after his initial arrest!

Thank you, Allie B, for bringing my attention to Perry’s latest contact with the criminal injustice system.

If anyone else would like to contact me directly with information, my email is willskink at yahoo dot com.

Stay tuned…