BILLINGS – After five hours’ deliberation in a new trial, a jury found a Billings man guilty Friday of a 2015 murder in a dispute over a woman.
Joseph Richard Polak II, 36, was originally convicted for shooting and killing 29-year-old Scott Hofferber in a Billings Heights trailer court in the fall of 2015.
The Montana Supreme Court ordered a new trial, ruling District Court Judge Mary Jane Knisely improperly excluded evidence indicating a key witness may have been on drugs during the crime.
Polak is serving an 80-year sentence for killing Hofferber in what was described as a dispute over a woman, Andrea Sattler.
This second trial began Monday before Judge Rod Souza.
Sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. June 25.
This is a developing story.
