A jury found a 40-year-old Billings man guilty Friday on all counts for shooting three people in August 2023, including his pregnant wife and son.
Darrell Bryant was convicted of three charges of attempted deliberate homicide in Yellowstone County District Court.
Th jury also found him guilty of criminal endangerment with weapons enhancement, criminal endangerment - forcible felongy against pregnant woman enhancement, and unlawful possession of a firearm by convicted person.
"In this case, there was overwhelming evidence to convict and we're grateful that the jurors found justice for this family," said Sabrina Currie, Senior Deputy Yellowstone County Attorney
Sentencing is scheduled for a later date. His trial presided by Judge Collete Davies lasted five days.
Prosecutors argued that Bryant broke down the front door of his home, then shot his pregnant wife, 16-year-old son and his son's friend. All survived.
"Very dangerous situation," Currie said.
A standoff ensued before police realized he had fled with his girlfriend to Columbus, where he was later arrested.
The defense agrued that Bryan took his actions because of the immediate fear he felt.
"We did rely on justifiable use of force as our affirmative defense for Mr. Bryant," said Sarah Kottke, defense attorney.
“For him to say that I was controlling and abusive is a lie," said Kimberley Bryant, who had been abused 22 years of their marriage. "He was the controlling abusive one. And it's just very unfortunate that I wasn't allowed to bring that forth in testimony.”
"There's no real winners here today," said Joe Zavatsky, defense attorney. No matter how this comes back, at the end of the day, this family got torn apart."
Bryant faces a possible sentence of five to 100 years.
Kimberly talked about that possible fate.
"I do believe that would be justified because I do believe he's a danger to society," Kimberley Bryant said. "I'm definitely feeling a thousand percent safer with him being in jail."
