Troy man gets prison time for assault of wife and father

A Troy man who was found guilty of strangling his father, assaulting his wife and fighting with responding police officers was recently sentenced to serve time in a state correctional facility.

Lincoln County District Court Judge Matt Cuffe sentenced Donald Colen Bryant, 54, to five years in the Montana Department of Corrections. Bryant received the sentence for one felony count of strangulation. He also received two concurrent sentences on two misdemeanors - one year for partner or family member assault and six months for resisting arrest - in the Lincoln County Detention Center.

Bryant was found guilty of the offenses in a jury trial on May 6.

Bryant did receive credit for serving 231 days in the county jail.

In delivering the sentence, Cuffe cited Bryant’s criminal history which includes matters in four different states since 1986.

When Lincoln County Deputy Attorney Jeffrey Zwang asked for a 5-year sentence, he said about Bryant, "He'd likely return to previous behavior if he doesn't receive treatment."

Bryant's public defender, Keenan Gallagher, said his client has PTSD and that efforts were being made to adjust his medications.

According to court documents, Troy police officers responded to a report of an assault on Nov. 9, 2021, after Bryant’s wife called authorities. In an affidavit, Police Chief Katie Davis recalled picking up officer Travis Miller en route to the scene.

Bryant’s wife met the two officers outside, telling them that Bryant and his father had fought. She tried to intervene and was struck several times in the head as a result, court documents said.

She said Bryant had stopped taking his medication and worried that he was using methamphetamine, according to the affidavit.

Davis and Miller also spoke with Bryant’s father. The older man told the officers that his son put his hands around his neck, strangling him, court documents said. He said that Bryant was sick, spitting and puking in various places in the house, sparking a confrontation.

Things turned physical at about 4 a.m., he said, and escalated from there. It was during the second fight that Bryant allegedly began “beating on” his wife, he told the officers.

Walking into the home, Davis and Miller found Bryant stretched out on the couch. He ignored their questions and attempted to stand and walk away, Davis wrote. When they asked him a second time, he threw a remote control at them, she recalled.

They ordered him to put his hands behind his back. He allegedly tried to get back down on the couch. Miller reached out and Bryant drew his hand back “as if to strike him,” Davis wrote in the affidavit.

Eventually, Miller got Bryant to the floor, but he continued to struggle. Davis wrote that Bryant tried to hit and kick Miller. Finally, he ceased struggling, she recalled, and they cuffed him before loading him into a patrol car.

At the Lincoln County Detention Center, Miller helped officers with Bryant, who “had a difficult time following their commands,” Davis wrote.

Meeting back up with the victims, Davis spoke first with Bryant’s wife. She suffered from a headache and reported tenderness following the fight, court documents said. She allegedly told Davis that Bryant punched her in the head and then chest. After she covered her face, he allegedly struck her five or six more times. Most of the blows landed on her head, she said.

Davis reported photographing the victim’s ear, which showed “significant bruising,” according to court documents.

Davis also documented a scratch on Bryant’s father’s face. When she returned Nov. 10 for a follow-up conversation, he led her through the incident again, this time inside the home. According to Davis’ account, Bryant shoved his father into a corner and against furniture when asked to stop spitting in the kitchen.

Later, when the two men were in the living room, Bryant allegedly lunged at his father and forced him onto the couch. He then placed the older man in an ever-tightening arm lock, court documents said.

“[The victim] said he did not lose consciousness, but was lightheaded afterward,” Davis wrote in the affidavit. “[The victim] said that he believes [Bryant’s] intention was to kill him.”