A woman offers Ann Stout some comfort moments before Friday’s sentencing hearing began. The Darby woman was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her husband in June 2007. PERRY BACKUS - Ravalli Republic

Langton said he didn’t find any mitigating circumstances for the murder in a pre-sentence report, which indicated that Stout failed to show remorse for the killing.

County prosecutors recommended a life sentence without the possibility of parole. They said Stout subjected her husband to two years of public and private humiliation before shooting him after she discovered he’d been involved in an affair and that she had carefully planned the murder.

Langton left the door open for parole, but only after the woman was psychologically evaluated and completed any recommended mental health treatment.

Stout appeared to suffer from an inability to accept reality, which won’t be cured by a few counseling sessions, Langton said at the sentencing hearing.

“Ms. Stout has a great deal of soul searching and mental health work for this (rehabilitation) to ever be possible in this case,” Langton said.

Before passing judgment, Langton provided a brief biography of Stout and outline of the case.

Stout was born in California and was part of a household of seven. She had no relationship with her father after the age of 4. When she married Bill in the mid-1980s, she’d already had a child, who was raised by the couple.

There was no remarkable martial history until 2000, when the couple’s oldest child committed suicide, Langton said. That event caused a “fracture in the relationship” - for some reason, Bill Stout blamed his wife for the suicide and the couple began to fight, he said.

In 2004, Bill Stout took out a $500,000 life insurance policy on himself. His wife was the sole beneficiary. The policy included a clause that would disallow payment should Bill Stout commit suicide in a two year period beginning in January 2005.

In March 2005, Bill Stout was involved in a brief affair with an old girlfriend while on an out-of-state trip, which included some “creative correspondence,” Langton continued.

Anne Stout discovered the affair in May 2005.

“From every indication, your reaction was more intense than one might expect,” Langton said.

Stout created a fictitious e-mail account in 2005 and began a campaign to torment her husband by sending fabricated e-mails addressed from the other woman to her husband and his family and friends.

“You began a lengthy, really troubling campaign of vindictive, surreptitious attacks on Bill and not just directed to him, but your own children, family and neighbors. Everybody important in Bill’s life,” Langton said.

The activities continued to escalate even though Stout told her husband she’d accepted him back in the marriage, the judge said.

“It was really, really extreme behavior … it went on for months. You never trusted Bill after that,” Langton said. “You thought he was devious … I think Bill was probably doomed from that point on.”

Bill Stout’s decision to sell the house in May 2007 was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back, the judge said.

On May 31, 2007, Bill Stout reported his Beretta 9mm pistol and two magazines stolen.

Ten days later, Anne Stout fixed her husband a nice dinner, saw their son out the door, had sex with Bill, and while he slept, shot him with his own handgun, Langton said. When her son returned later that evening, Stout acted normally.

The mother and son got up the next morning and went to Missoula for breakfast and a shopping trip to the mall, the judge said.

Stout reported finding her husband’s body when they returned home.

“All of that indicates some degree of a lack of emotion,” Langton said.

Stout continued to deny any involvement in the murder even as evidence continued to mount.

Investigators later discovered internet searches on her computer with titles like “how to kill someone” or “how to poison someone and get away with it.” They discovered a note in Stout’s handwriting on how to operate the handgun. The gun was found wrapped in a towel in a saddlebag on her husband’s motorcycle.

This wasn’t a case where a person was overcome in a moment of passion, said County Prosecutor Bill Fulbright.

“This was something that was planned out,” Fulbright said. “It was not an impulsive thing.”

Stout’s son, mother and brother asked the court to allow Stout a second chance by retaining a right to ask for parole.

Noah Stout said that’s what his father would have wanted.

“This hearing is for justice for my father,” Noah Stout said. “When I think of justice for him, I don’t see that as his grandchildren getting to know their grandmother by putting their hand against a piece of bulletproof glass.”

Noah Stout said he wasn’t there to ask the judge to disregard the verdict, but “to give my mother no chance ever again … that isn’t the right thing. It’s not something my father would have wanted.”

Stout’s mother, Irma Moreno, told the judge she still believes her daughter was not guilty.

“Mothers know their children,” she said, with a voice choked with emotion. “I know that my daughter is a good individual … I wish that I had been able to protect my daughter from this terrible ordeal.”

Stout’s brother, Jose Luis Moreno, said Bill Stout’s death left a large void in the family’s life and sentencing Stout to life without a chance for parole would “just make it worse for all of us and her children … We all love her. We haven’t given up on her and we never will.”

Langton also ordered Stout to pay the costs accrued by the state public defender’s office and other court costs.

Montana State Regional Public Defender Ed Sheehy told the court his office’s costs amounted to $15,000.

Ravalli County Prosecuting Attorney Geoff Mahar challenged that amount saying a more realistic fee for two attorneys working for a year to put together a deliberate homicide defense would be between $70,000 and $100,000.

“There’s a whole segment of the population out there who are paying for this defendant’s defense … this (the $15,000 estimate) is like a 1985 bill. Judge, it’s 2008,” Mahar said.

A hearing on the matter was set for Nov. 26.

Sheehy said he would appeal Stout’s conviction of deliberate homicide saying the case was based on circumstantial evidence and there was no one who could testify that Stout actually shot her husband.

In her statement to the court, Stout asked that she be allowed the chance to return to her family as quickly as possible to help her sons recover from the loss of their father.

“Allow our family the seeds of hope,” Stout told Langton.

“Your children will be deprived of your company,” Langton said. “It’s not because you’ve been convicted of the crime. It’s because you committed the crime.”

Editor Perry Backus can be reached at 363-3300 or editor@ravallirepublic.com

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Restored faith wrote on Oct 1, 2008 9:38 AM:

" Our faith has been restored in the Justice system, about time!! It is a sad and terrible thing that happened, Has anyone given ANY thought to Bill's Family?? The Stout family have lost a beloved family memeber. The Boys now will grow up without a Mother and Father, FOR WHAT?? Suicide?? I don't think so.. How could he commit suicide and hide all the evidence that was found. Ann made her choice, and she'll now pay for it.. God bless her family and Bill's, they are the one's I feel sorry for... "

Johnnie wrote on Sep 30, 2008 2:07 PM:

" Well, G, I'm sure I speak for most people reading this story when I say that you just may possibly be a litle slightly biased in your analysis of the investigation and trial, due to your status as (I'm assuming) a family member of Anne Stout. And as such, your opinion, while valid, may not be the most objective.

The simple fact it is that Anne was convicted of murder. Whether you want to believe that she did it or not, she was convicted in the court of Law. And she still has the right of appeal. We'll see how that all goes as well. There, at least, is your chance for "The truth will finally prevail".

Just like O.J. finding the real killer as well, eh?

The only entities who know absolutely 100% who killed Bill Stout are Bill himself, the person who pulled the trigger, and God. But we are not naive. The evidence was substantial enough to prove Anne's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Good luck to you in finding the "real" killer though... "

justice wrote on Sep 29, 2008 7:34 PM:

" I THINK WHAT ANNE DID WAS HORRIBLE,WRONG AND DEMEANING, AND GUESS WHAT SHE ISN'T GETTING AWAY WITH IT. I KNOW HER,AS WELL AS ANYONE COULD KNOW HER SHE'S A COLD CALCULATED KILLER AND THANKS TO SHERIFF'S DEPT AND DETENTION CENTER AND OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM SHE'S GONE AND OUR STREETS ARE CLEAR OF 1 MORE CRIMINAL "

G Moreno wrote on Sep 29, 2008 7:13 PM:

" Apparently none of you writer's have a real name. And, apparently, you weren't paying attention at the trial. I was. The prosecution's investigation of this case was absolutely lopsided and one-sided. Every single so called expert witness they called testified that they were there to investigate this case as a "deliberate homicide." Upon questioning if they had looked for this or if they had looked for that, etc. the prosecutor's experts said repeatedly, "No, we were told to investigate as a deliberate homicide, not suicide." Yet, one of the prosecutor's experts said that it would be rare for a suicide but yet not entirely impossible. Whose to say that Bill's killer is not still at large? They didn't look for anyone else -- just Anne! Blind-sided, again! The whole trial was run poorly in my opinion -- lopsided and, again, one-sided. The judge said that Anne showed no remorse. Since she knows in her heart she is innocent, why should she feel remorse for a crime that she didn't commit? The sorrow that Anne does feel is that she lost her husband, best friend and companion plus she has lost the ability to help care for her son's while they still grieve. Rather than throw stones as you all have done here, perhaps your time would be better spent in praying to God that the real killer (if it was not suicide) be found or be brave enough to come forward with the truth. The truth will finally prevail in this case and that is a fact! "

Good Call wrote on Sep 29, 2008 4:13 PM:

" Ane deserves life. She took one and now will pay with hers. She made her choice and I'm sorry that her kids have to suffer for it. Thank you langton for a job very well done. "

Humanity wrote on Sep 29, 2008 10:06 AM:

" How tragic that someone can revel in the pain of a family's torment. The big picture here is that a family has been torn apart. Why would you celebrate the pain of another? "

Sidelock wrote on Sep 29, 2008 9:53 AM:

" As a friend of Bill, thank you Geoff Mahar and staff,and Judge Langton and staff for also being a friend of Bill whom you did not know until his death. A job well done by all of you. "

yeah wrote on Sep 28, 2008 8:47 PM:

" i love it i was there and watched the judge and she got what she deserves good job justice system "

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