(Operator speaking)
(Rachel speaking)
- (Telephone line disconnects) - (Operator speaking)
(Female officer speaking)
(Operator speaking)
Rachel: A gruesome, horrible thing happened that day.
He attacked me and I feel was going to kill me.
I didn't want to kill him. I just didn't want him to kill me.
I got away. He got me again.
I was like, I'm going to die
and that was the scariest moment in my life.
(Operator speaking)
This case is a perfect example of why there is justified use of force statutes,
people should be able to defend themselves from being free of sexual attack,
sexual assault, rape. Period.
The facts as we know it
are that at six o'clock, Rachel went to meet Jacob glace, her ex-husband,
for the purposes of preventing him to have contact with his son.
They needed a place to talk privately,
it wasn't a matter that was gonna be discussed around strangers.
They went about a half mile up the road.
He attacked her,
attempted to rape her,
she used a pistol to defend herself,
shot and killed him.
Rachel was fortunate to have a handgun in that spot
because if she hadn't, she would have been dead.
Hey, rach, come on back.
I specialize in self-defense cases.
And when I met Rachel,
I knew, right away, it was a case that was worthy to take pro bono,
meaning that there's no charge.
What she was trying to do was to help her kids
and, you know, being a parent, that meant a lot to me.
Right now, your current charges are deliberate homicide,
it's the most serious charge there is.
That charge would result in life incarceration.
That's really heavy. (Chuckles)
I certainly did not go down there intending to kill him that day.
I did what I had to do so that I didn't die.
Really, what the state is saying is that you killed Jacob glace
because of the history of domestic abuse,
and that you had had enough.
There were five shots that ended up hitting him.
But they're primarily going to talk about the shot to the back of the head
and they're going to, somehow, go through and say that that was an execution.
It baffles my mind, really, that they would think that about me.
One of the things that we don't have is any photographs of you,
as you were that day.
These pictures were taken after a few days
and I can show you a couple that I would think that,
you know, like this one here, Rachel.
This is one that they're saying that you may have did to yourself.
That is completely ridiculous.
So, you are entitled under Montana law
to defend yourself, um, from a sexual assault,
a forcible felony, or in a situation where you fear for your life.
Normally, the police would not only investigate the crime
or the potential crime of a death,
but they would also investigate
the person's claim of sexual assault and attempted rape.
They didn't do it.
We're going to reverse that on them,
go out and do our own investigation,
filling in blanks that they just don't have
and so, we can get ahead of them.
That allows us to be prepared, okay?
I had a life that was predictable and enjoyable and calm
and, now, all of that is gone.
To know there's people out there who think I did that
is disgusting and it makes me wanna throw up,
because that couldn't be further, further from what happened
Rachel: I was 15 when we got together
and he was 22, almost 23 years old at the time.
I was standing outside, one morning,
waiting for the school bus to come pick me up,
and he went walking by, uh,
and he smiled and waved and continued on his way.
So that was the beginning of our relationship.
We had sex and I got pregnant with Orion.
That was around my 16th birthday.
So the sexual abuse began a couple of months after Orion was born
and then it stopped.
When I became pregnant with Isaac, he became physically abusive.
He would pinch me, push me, throw things at me.
And then Isaac was born in August of 2001,
and, then...
the sexual abuse started again about a week, week and a half or so
after Isaac was born.
And then that was when I tried to commit suicide for the first time,
because I thought here we go again.
On the inside, I feel like I was just a shell of a person
and everything that was ever me was gone and I was just there.
And I had two little babies to take care of,
and a horrible monster that showed up to terrorize us.
Jake and I were together for just under five years
um, and...
They were five very long years
of abuse and isolation and torment and fear.
It was eight-nine years of...
The only time I'd see him is if it was one of the kid's birthdays,
or one of them had a school event or something,
and they wanted him to come, then we might bump into him at the school.
I wished he would have just disappeared,
but I just put on a smiley face
and let him come over whenever he waned to come over
and just pretend to be his friend.
I, personally, do not feel any loss
from him not walking the earth anymore.
Um, what I do feel is the loss of my kids who lost their dad,
um...
And that is so hard.
So, Lance, give me the general timeline
of what happened
in the hours leading up to the moment where she was assaulted?
What we know is Rachel started her day at work, right?
She's getting texts and information from glace saying that...
Rob: That's the ex? Okay. Lance: Yes
ex believes there's a problem with one of the children, and he wants to deal with it.
She agrees to go to paradise to meet him.
Where he's staying, the lady that owns the house is there.
It doesn't allow for them to have a private conversation about the kids.
Rachel has a new vehicle.
He goes out and inspects it
and says, "hey, let's go for a drive".
She's not uncomfortable.
She hasn't had a situation in 10-15 years
where, I think, there's been any violence.
So she doesn't go there thinking something bad's going to happen.
Rob: Oh, okay.
There's a little pull out. They start having an initial conversation.
He gets different
and then, kind of, goes in to try to kiss her once,
and she kind of gives him a push off
like, you know, that's not right, it ain't gonna happen type thing.
He backed off, kind of apologized and then started kind of acting strange,
pacing around, babbling about how bad his life type thing was.
And then at some point in time, he says kind of, like, words like, "(Bleep) It,"
and he just attacks her.
She escapes, she feels him grabbing at her pants
and then grabs the gun, turns, closes her eyes, pulls the trigger.
And then at 7:56, she calls 911.
I hear what you're saying,
but every person that I've talked to about this case has the same question.
Why has she got a gun with her?
I mean, the fact of the gun in the car,
it's a good question to explain.
What she's told me is that she goes on hikes.
I mean, they live in lakeside, so it's bear country.
So, she has a gun always when she goes on a hike,
and so it's not uncommon.
I mean, we live in Montana.
If you didn't have the gun in the car, you'd be considered a weirdo.
Yeah.
Here, Isaac, can you set the table for me?
Of course.
It's really nice to get all the kids together,
or at least some of them to sit down and have dinner with us.
How many people are eating today?
- Rachel: Four. - Four? Okay.
Which means you'll probably sit next to Corey.
That's fine.
I met Corey on match.Com.
I didn't do bars and I didn't do church
and there was no really where else to meet people.
My headspace is all over the place.
Rachel's my best friend,
she's my everything.
My whole world revolves around her, the family.
It gives me a great level of rage,
seeing her go through the levels of pain that I do,
having to be there for her when she cries,
having the tough discussions about what are we going to do if all of this goes south.
If she's taken away and,
worst case scenario, life, everything stops, everything's done.
I know that things will never go back to normal.
So that's not what I'm striving for,
but at least trying to keep our day-to-day lives resembling some type of normal.
It's nice having you guys both home for dinner.
Isaac: Wonderful. Corey: Thank you, sir.
Looks amazing, great job, great job.
Rachel: As much as I really enjoy family dinner time.
Since October,
my heart feels like it's being squeezed really tight
and jumps up into my throat.
And I think that what if these next few months are going to be
the last time I ever get to do that.
What if it goes all wrong
and I get convicted of murder and have to go to prison?
So I face it all the time, all day.
Isaac: I don't blame my mom. I hated my dad.
I never felt anything for him, past his abuse.
There's only so much love you can have for a man
when you would hear him beat his wife so many (bleep) Damn days.
When the man that made you,
who made you who you are,
holds a rifle in one hand and a bottle of Tequila in the other
and leaves accusing you of how (bleep) His life has been,
when you're 15 (Bleep) Damn years old?
Quite frankly, if the worst was to happen,
if my mom does end up going away,
I think that because of her role as the glue that holds us all together,
our family would just inherently disintegrate.
Jamie: Is this spring? Lance: Yeah
So, Jamie, today, I wanna go over the interviews
that I conducted with the officers that responded to the incident.
Jamie: So that is a concern to me.
Um, I think that
we're going to need to explain the proximity of where this all happened,
how she fired the shots how quickly she fired the shots.
We're going to have to do our due diligence to explain that.
Lance: Alright, Jamie, the second one's gonna be
of the other detective that responded.
So, I mean, I don't know that much about first step,
but maybe tell me what is the first step facility?
First step is set up to do forensic interviews
and examinations on victims of assaults, primarily sexual assaults.
There are protocols in place to collect that evidence.
And that's what first step is there for.
(Lance speaking on video)
Lance: Do you normally take people that have been sexually assaulted,
is it standard procedure to go to first step to have them gather that evidence?
Jamie: I don't see why you wouldn't!
Any transfer of DNA on the clothing, on her skin,
they are the best in the state at gathering it.
Lance: I totally do not understand how that doesn't happen.
Jamie: Because he doesn't believe her
and that is indicated to me by his statement.
He said "allegedly."
I don't think he believed her.
I don't think he believed that there was anything to investigate.
Whether it was a rape, whether there was penetration or no penetration,
it's still... A sexual assault is a crime.
That is great ammo for me as a defense attorney, right.
She is never, ever considered a victim.
Rachel: I am the shelter coordinator for the Abbie shelter.
It's for survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
If and when those survivors are ready to leave their homes,
I provide employment, housing, educational resources, child care, things like that.
Myself, having gone from, leaving an abusive relationship
to be able now to be in the position where
I can be that support to someone
who doesn't have anybody else is really, really fulfilling.
And now I might lose my freedom.
And I really don't want to not belong here,
because I love it here.
All right, so before we start the reenactment,
we're gonna do, let's talk just about what our goal is.
I mean, to me, the biggest issue we have here
is to show the jury why this was self-defense
and not a homicide, is proximity of Rachel and glace
when the shooting happens.
Any time you're dealing with self-defense
like we are in this one, proximity is everything.
A threat at 50 yards is way different at two feet.
So we have to figure out where Rachel is positioned
and have her walk it through for us
from beginning to end.
I think the important things to me
and kind of the missing links here are going to be the state's theory
that this was an execution-style murder,
that she assassinated him
and or did some sort of a finishing shot to the back of his head.
Well, you know, that's a question that they have.
So, we're going to have to answer it.
Rachel: I feel quite angry that in this day and age
a sex assault victim has to go re-enact her assault.
The thing about that day
that follows me around all day long
in the lurking, (chuckles) In the dark corners of my brain
is his face after he died.
And that's what I see when I wake up first thing in the morning,
and that's what I see when I close my eyes to go to bed at night.
And having to be out there doing the reenactment...
And I know they're gonna ask me 100 different ways,
"how was he laying, how were you standing?
"What did you see?"
And all I'm gonna see is his face.
Lance: So, everyone, we're here to do a reenactment
of what took place on October 8th.
Everybody's input is welcome.
Would you introduce yourself?
My name is Dr. Sarah Baxter,
I'm a clinical and forensic psychologist.
I've been practicing in Montana for about 30 years.
My name's Austin, I'm here to play Jake in the re-enactment
and do whatever I can to accurately portray
what happened and occurred on that night.
My name is Trish rice, I'm from three forks Montana.
I'm a firearms instructor with Montana tactical.
Lance: Thirty-three feet, nine and a half.
So head over in that direction.
Otis: Okay, got it.
Lance: It's pretty damn close, guys.
What, when you get here, you pull in and park like this,
what is the next thing that you guys do?
Okay, so we got out of the car,
lit some cigarettes, talking, walking around.
I finished my smoke, walked over here,
hit the button, opened the hatch, lowered the bottom one.
And then I sat down, and then I just sat here
while he continued pacing around and talking.
Lance: Okay.
Go ahead and go to the back of the vehicle
like you would have been and I want you to go up there
- and position her as best you can. - Okay.
And then just hop on up.
All right, you're sitting in the back of the vehicle?
So once you sat down, things started happening?
He... I sat down. He started crying.
The kids hate him, um, he misses me so much.
"Why didn't our marriage work?"
And then that's when he came in to try and kiss me the first time.
And I pushed him away and I was like, hey, no, uh-uh.
Tried to laugh it off, lighten the mood,
because that's when the tension just went whoosh,
and he was like, "oh, yeah, sorry, ha-ha."
So he stayed probably about this distance from me, give or take.
And his face changed.
His eyes got like a glassy appearance to them.
And they started getting squinty
and he was making these little, half-creepy smirk things with his face.
At some point, he said, like he was having a conversation
with himself in his head, is what it appeared like
and then he said, "(Bleep) It."
Sorry, hold on...
Okay, Rachel, you talked about the change in look in his face.
From your time with him, did you recognize that?
I had seen that face before when we were married
and he would assault me.
That was the face he made when he had been drinking
and wanted...
That face always ended with me getting hurt in some way.
Lance: What we wanna do, if we can, is see how you escaped.
I froze at first, went down and just froze,
and he started kissing my face, my neck.
I felt him pull my shirt aside and then his face went down into my chest
and then that's when I came alive
and tried to start to get out from underneath him.
Lance: Okay.
And I went that way.
Hey, Seth, I think we should have you on this side,
because we may ultimately want to show the jury
what happened on this side of the vehicle.
So this is gonna be the best opportunity to see this portion of it.
Okay, so, we're picking up here...
He goes after her
and that's likely where the pants button...
Lance: Yeah, the pants were ripped then.
Rob: Did you have any sense of the speed that he was coming at you?
Other than when he grabbed my pants,
when I was going, I mean, 'cause I was about here-ish...
Rob: Was it a glancing... Was it that or was it a solid...
It was a hard yank.
And that was because it was so hard.
That's why I kind of like went in face first into the car
because I was like, oh, pants!
Lance: Lemme... So, on the pants, do you think
that the pull caused the pants,
or do you think that the pants were ripped from what he was doing in the back?
My button was undone and the zipper was maybe somewhat down in the car
and when he grabbed, I hear in my head like the loudest sound in the world,
even today, the sound of the metal of my zipper ripping.
If he's pursuing you, you think he's right on your neck,
if he doesn't lose that grip he's going to smack you into the front.
That was the scariest moment of the whole event
to me, because I got away.
He got me again. I didn't, I was like, I'm going to die.
This is it, like, I had never felt that level of fear in my life
and I have been through some (bleep),
and that was the scariest moment in my life.
(Sniffles)
Rachel: I fell in like this,
grabbed the gun.
Lance: Did you have to cock the gun?
- I don't remember. - Okay.
- Then we're gonna grab the gun... - Grabbed the gun.
- Lance: Austin, need you. - So...
Rob: Do you remember anything about his posture, his body position?
When I turned around he was making a forward motion towards me.
- Okay. - He stopped when he saw I had the gun.
Rachel do you remember him at some point, rotating at all?
Or going this way?
He was facing directly in front of me when I fired the first shot
and I have no... I closed my eyes until he was in the dirt.
I do not know what his body did after I fired.
Lance: We know it was this close.
Jamie: He was right there?
The... so her arm extended, that shot to the shoulder is within two feet.
Oh right, okay.
Basically, I'm almost looking at you
- the way it would be. - Okay.
So then shot here, here and then here.
And then at some point, the last bullet hits,
so his body would have spun,
and that's how the bullet got in the back of his head.
Lance: So I'm gonna go meet with Jasmine,
a former significant other of glace.
The fact that glace had been charged with a felony,
partner or family member assault from her.
My hope is that'll help in corroborating
that Rachel was going to be raped
but it will be documented by someone other than her,
that experienced the same thing.
Oh, well, thanks for having us, Jasmine.
I know that this is not a pleasurable thing to be involved in,
It was in march of 2020 that he assaulted you?
Jasmine: March 20th, 2020.
I got a restraining order.
My kids and I moved within a two-week period
and we've essentially been in hiding.
Lance: Prior to the time you got your restraining order, did you ever have concerns?
A lot.
Lance: Rachel kind of described this
and I just wanted to see if it was similar,
like, you could tell, like, a look that he would get?
- Mmm-hmm. - A smirk or anything?
Before physical violence or sexual violence,
there would be, like, a malicious grin.
I can definitely say he got pleasure in violence.
Lance: We're going to turn this over to the state.
What would you want them to know about him and what he's done to you
and what he would have done to Rachel?
Well, there's a instance of me being abused in front of my kids.
I've had a .45 held to my head
and the trigger pulled a couple of times in front of my kids.
And if I told him he was hurting me. He got more excited.
(Sniffles)
If I cried, he got more excited.
Do you think Rachel had reason to believe
- her life was in danger? - I absolutely do.
Based on my own experiences, I absolutely do.
Lance: Thanks for your time, Jasmine.
I appreciate you getting involved because Rachel's life is at stake.
Well, that's something you don't see every day.
I'm looking at two filings from the court
that indicate to me that the county attorney
has requested the Attorney General's special prosecution division
assist her in this case.
It just signals to me they're taking the case serious.
They've also hired a private law firm from missoula
so the deck's stacked against us at this point
but we'll see where it ends up.
On one hand, these, the ag, county and private law firm
have unlimited resources,
which is a negative for us.
Conversely, you have open minds that will listen to reason.
If this case is baseless, these two attorneys won't take it forward.
Rachel: Being active and baking,
one of the things that I love to do,
it gets my mind out of the space
of thinking about the trial coming up,
like I'll just be sitting at the table, having a cup of coffee in the morning
and all of a sudden
I'll have a thought about the court case,
and then my next automatic thought is
am I gonna be home in August or am I gonna be in prison?
Lance: We're on our way to polson,
which is the halfway point for meeting Rachel.
The reason we're doing that is there's been a bunch of developments
in her case. She needs to make some decisions.
And it's one of those things that you need to do in person.
It's a big moment.
- Hi, guys. - Rachel: Hello!
So this is what they have filed.
Okay, I need to breathe first.
So what it is, it's a motion to dismiss.
In 20-plus years of doing this, I think I've only sat with maybe one other person
that's gotten a motion to dismiss on a homicide case.
But it's without prejudice.
So without prejudice, that's...
Corey: They can come back at some point in time in the future,
if something arises.
Normally, I'd say, gosh, you know,
it's... we'd be having a giant party,
to be honest. But if you read that, it doesn't exonerate you.
It doesn't do anything to say what you did was justified
and that last paragraph really bugs me.
Rachel: "To make a determination at a later date whether to apply
"for leave to re-file upon reexamination."
Right, it essentially is a whitewashing of what took place here
and still leaves a cloud over you.
And so what do we do? There's a couple of different options.
There may be the opportunity for us
to have a hearing with the judge
to say we object to it being without prejudice
and we want it with prejudice.
And so that's what you guys are going to have to ponder the next couple of days,
how you want to proceed on it.
Rachel: I have a hot lead ball in my stomach, is how I feel.
Everyone thinking about me, talking about me
and it just gives me all kinds of anxiousness.
Thank you.
Ready to go.
Good afternoon, everyone. Please be seated.
All right, thank you, everyone.
We're here after the state filed a motion to dismiss this matter without prejudice.
The state represented that it was still expecting unspecified forensic tests.
The defense filed a qualified opposition requesting the matter be dismissed with prejudice.
The court set the matter for oral argument here today.
So with that, Mr. McConnell.
McConnell: Thank you, your honor.
Both parties agree in this case, your honor,
that the case should be dismissed.
The only question is the characterization,
whether it's with prejudice or without prejudice.
The state believes a dismissal without prejudice
is in line with the Montana statute, Montana precedent
and relevant jurisprudence in this area.
The bottom line is there's no statute of limitations for homicide charges.
All right. Thank you. Counsel.
I would respectfully argue that the state's position
that the statute of limitations is indefinite is actually a reason
that this case should now be dismissed with prejudice,
because the state could come back,
some over-anxious prosecutor 20 years from now
could decide to pick up this file and prosecute Rachel belleson.
We cannot have that happen.
She won't have her pro bono lawyers like Mr. Jasper and I
available to defend her.
She will be sitting there, essentially undefended.
Thank you, counsel. Mr. Jasper.
- Afternoon, your honor. - Judge: Good afternoon.
One of the things that trial does,
is it puts the facts out there,
by filing its motion to dismiss,
the state tried to make sure that nobody
knew a damn thing about this case,
as it puts everything on Rachel belleson,
the one person who acted within the law.
Thank you, Mr. Jasper.
Based on my review of the file,
the testimony such that it was
and argument presented today,
the court must consider the constitutional rights of the defendant
and the interests of society.
The court also finds that there is no substantive, outstanding evidence.
So with that, this matter is dismissed
with prejudice.
Thank you, everyone.
Lance: It's what we've been waiting for,
I don't know, I can't even describe it,
it's the best feeling ever, especially just knowing
what it means to Rachel.
Rachel: This verdict means
that someone in a position of power heard me and believed me
and I... that's not something that I have experienced much in my life.
So it's just tremendously wonderful.