A man was sentenced Friday to 300 years for killing his wife and two other family members in April 2016.
In June, Robert James LeCou, 41, was found guilty in Carbon County District Couty on three counts of deliberate homicide in the deaths of his wife Karen Hill-LeCou, his sister-in-law Sharon Hill-Lamb and her husband Lloyd Lamb.
LeCou received a 100 year sentence for each victim and the sentences are to be served consecutively, leaving him with a total sentence of 300 years in prison, according to Carbon County Attorney Alex Nixon.
"It was important for not only the victims and also the state, to see that he be punished for each individual," Nixon said. "He deserved to be held accountable for each individual separately."
The gap between the guilty verdict and the sentencing is atypical, Nixon said, explaining that District Court Judge Blair Jones had missed time at work for personal reasons but wanted to be the judge to issue the sentence.
People are also reading…
"He called it one of the most unbelievably vile and unbelievably horrifying offenses he'd seen," Nixon said of the judge's remarks Friday. "The worst homicide he had ever had the chance to be involved with."
In April 2016, all three victims were found fatally shot inside Sharon Hill-Lamb's home in Belfry, where LeCou had been living. Hill-Lamb, 72, had been shot in the face four times. Lloyd Lamb, 76, was found dead in his bed from gunshot wounds. Hill-LeCou, the wife of Robert LeCou, was found dead facedown in a bathroom with gunshot wounds.
A murder weapon was found, but prosecutors had argued it was Lloyd Lamb's 9 mm handgun that was used. Days after the bodies were discovered, LeCou was found in Washington state, where he had driven in his wife's truck.
LeCou will likely end up in Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, but Nixon said the Montana Department of Corrections still had to make an official decision on LeCou's placement in the prison system.
Of the 300 years LeCou was sentenced to, none of it is suspended and he will not be eligible for parole at any time throughout the duration, Nixon said.
"It was exactly what we requested," he said.
The hearing began at 2 p.m. and concluded shortly after 3 p.m.
A combined 11 statements were read aloud in the courtroom Friday, either from family members or by victim witness advocates, according to Nixon.
For his part, LeCou "just reaffirmed his claim of innocence, and that was it," Nixon said.
