CASPER — A 38-year-old Fort Washakie man received 30 years in prison from a U.S. District Court judge Friday for shooting and killing his wife in April 2024 as they drove to get food in Lander.
Their 11-year-old daughter was in the back seat of their pickup at the time.
Conrad Tillman had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a plea deal with U.S. Attorney Cameron Cook.
But Cook argued Friday that Tillman’s shooting of his wife, Utahnna Bearcomesout, 37, on April 14 last year also involved pre-mediation and the sentence should go above normal guidelines.
The judge rejected the premeditation argument, but did raise the sentencing guidelines five levels because he shot Bearcomesout in front of their child and for using the weapon while driving the vehicle.
“She had to witness the death of her mother with her own eyes,” the judge said. “This is not your ordinary second-degree murder case in that regard.”
The three-and-a-half hour sentencing hearing included playing a dramatic 911 call, testimony from Bearcomesout’s son, and a medical expert on the trajectory of the 9 mm bullet that fragmented as it hit the skull of Bearcomesout in the passenger seat of the pickup.
Defense attorney Jordan Deckenbach played a 911 tape for the court that depicted his client repeatedly telling a dispatcher to send help to the scene where he had pulled off the highway.
“I just shot my wife, and I need help,” he told the dispatcher. “She started to beat me up, I didn’t know what to do. … I’m tired of living this lifestyle, me and her. I lost my mind years ago and we had a hard time.”
There was also a conversation between Tillman and the dispatcher about how he flagged down a vehicle. Testimony would later show that he put his daughter in that vehicle with a good Samaritans who stopped.
Cook presented testimony from Bearcomesout’s son, Keshon Bearscomesout, 19, who recounted a time when his mother had traveledto Seattle and he was left home alone with Tillman. He said he was beaten with a belt for “no reason.”
A photo was introduced showing his back with scars on it.
Knife Incident
The teen also testified about an argument that his mother had with Tillman in the kitchen in which Tillman pulled a knife out of a drawer. He said he was sitting on a bean-bag chair in the living room when it happened.
“Conrad ran to the drawer and grabbed a knife and charged at my mom,” he said. “My mom tried to stop him and sliced her neck.”
Under cross-examination, Keshon Bearcomesout agreed that Tillman took him to religious ceremonies, attended his sports events and bought video games for him.
He also said he never told his mother about his scars and agreed that the first time he spoke about the scars or knife incident was after his mother had died and while he was talking with his grandmother, who Deckenbach said wanted his client punished.
Deckenbach also argued that the home where the knife incident happened would not have allowed Keshon Bearscomesout to see what happened in the kitchen as he sat on the chair in the living room.
Dr. Bill Smock, a police surgeon from New Albany, Indiana, testified that during a forensic reconstruction of the shooting, it became clear that Utahnna Bearcomesout was bent over to the right in the passenger seat when the bullet struck her head.
He said the bullet fragmented with part of it going down her skull to the front lobe of the brain and part of it in the column near the windshield and exiting through the windshield.
Smock said the brain injury did not immediately stop her heart and she lived for “minutes” following the shooting.
While on the stand for the defense, Tillman told the court that the incident began when his daughter spilled fries on his seat as they prepared to go to the store on the night of the shooting.
An affidavit from the daughter quoted in court said that Tillman had taken her into the house to wash her hands and had hit her in the stomach and back, and that he called her an “Arapaho.”
Tillman said he had used the term as not “derogatory” but “joking,” and that he did hit her but only to get her to going out to the truck.
While in the truck, he testified his wife started arguing with him as he drove and initially hit him. He struck her back, and the argument escalated as they drove. She grabbed at the steering wheel until he pulled his pistol out from beside the driver’s seat and “pointed it at the top of the cab.”
Tillman said he was still driving trying to stay in his lane when the pistol went off.
‘It Was Very Reckless’
“It was very reckless, I should not have done it,” Tillman said. “I deeply regret that.”
Testimony from Dr. Smock showed that Bearscomeout had alcohol in her system, while a test on Hillman after his arrest showed no alcohol levels.
Rankin told Tillman that while he took responsibility for his actions, he had a pattern of anger and “control” issues that were clear through the evidence presented at the hearing.
Ranking gave Tillman credit for already serving 11 months and seven days of a sentence that he received in tribal court for the crime and said his federal sentence would be service concurrently with the tribal one.
He assessed him $6,998 in restitution and ordered five years of probation on his release from prison.
“This was senseless, this was unnecessary and this was cruel,” Rankin said as he rendered the sentence. He noted Tillman’s lack of criminal history and ordered him to obtain his GED in prison.
“I hope you come out a better person,” the judge said.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
