Montana Sen. Jason Ellsworth’s guilty verdict thrown out

The guilty verdict in the official misconduct case against former Senate President Jason Ellsworth has been thrown out following revelations that jurors were exposed to sealed exhibits concerning communications with a potential key witness.

Lewis and Clark County District Judge Christopher Abbott said in a Wednesday court hearing that he learned Wednesday morning that jurors deliberating in the misdemeanor trial were inadvertently given exhibits by court staff regarding the scheduling of potential key witness Bryce Eggleston.

Abbott vacated the previous day’s verdict against Ellsworth from the bench Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s possible there were exhibits that were sent to the jury room that weren’t supposed to be there,” Abbott said. “As the parties recall, (the exhibits) were essentially put into the record for appellate purposes under seal on the first day of trial during jury selection, were included with the exhibits, but legally were not admitted as evidence and would not normally be relevant.”

The mistaken provision of the material to jurors at the start of deliberations became known to Ellsworth’s legal team as they visited with a juror after the verdict was announced shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday. The juror mentioned details considered by jurors that weren’t part of the trial.

“The state does believe that there should be a new trial,” said Dan Guzynski, an assistant Montana attorney general, speaking at a mistrial hearing Wednesday. “I also want to make a brief comment that everybody makes mistakes, and this whole process, and what we’re all involved in, is subject to the human condition.”

Eggleston is Ellsworth’s longtime friend and former employee, who in 2024 pitched the senator on tracking the state’s progress implementing 27 legislative bills created by lawmakers with the purpose of curtailing the powers of Montana courts. Ellsworth signed two contracts totaling $170,000 for the proposed services on Dec. 26, 2024.

The work was to be performed by Agile Analytics, a then newly formed company for which Eggleston was the registered agent. Prosecutors allege that Ellsworth circumvented competitive bidding requirements and signed the contracts without a required review by state procurement agents.

Eggleston informed the Legislature in early 2025 that Agile was no longer interested in the work after Ellsworth’s handling of the agreements drew public attention.

Eggleston told Montana Free Press he didn’t want to discuss Wednesday’s hearing, which he wasn’t part of, but agreed to share his email communications with Guszynski about scheduling in the weeks leading up to Ellsworth’s trial. Those communications were inadvertently provided to the jurors prior to deliberations Tuesday night.

In the communications, Eggleston explains that he cannot attend the trial in person on the day requested by the Department of Justice due to parental obligations. He offers to testify remotely on the day requested, or in person on a different day of the trial, which was scheduled to last two weeks.

Guszynski informed Eggleston that Ellsworth objected to Eggleston testifying remotely. Guszynski then suggested that the senator’s objection “seems strategic and smacks of gamesmanship all around” — an accusation that was never raised at trial, since the state chose not to call Eggleston as a witness.

Jury deliberations following the six-day trial took four hours on Tuesday and left Ellsworth, a Hamilton Republican, potentially facing a six-month jail sentence for mishandling the two contracts awarded to Agile Analytics.

Should the Department of Justice choose to retry the case, the retrial would begin Dec. 14, Abbott said.

Ellsworth’s Senate term expires at the end of the year.

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This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.