Anne Marie Stout is, as of 2026, still serving a life sentence in the Montana prison system for the 2007 deliberate homicide of her husband, Bill Stout, at their home near Darby. Under Montana law, a prisoner serving a life sentence is generally not eligible for non-medical parole until 30 years have been served, which places Stout’s earliest possible parole consideration at roughly 2038.1Montana State Legislature. Montana Code Annotated 46-23-201 Her conviction was affirmed by the Montana Supreme Court in 2010, and her post-conviction petition was denied in 2011.
What She Was Convicted Of
On June 2, 2007, Bill Stout, 50, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the back of the head in the couple’s Ravalli County home.2Billings Gazette. Judge Rules Against Darby Woman Appealing Conviction in Husband’s Murder The physical evidence contradicted the suicide theory the defense would later raise at trial. He had been shot through the back of the head while lying in bed. The body had been moved after death. Drops of blood were found under the sheet covering him. The 9mm Beretta used to kill him was not in the bedroom at all; it was found wrapped in a bloody towel inside a saddlebag on Bill Stout’s Harley-Davidson.3Ravalli Republic. Stout Murder Trial Coverage
Anne Marie Stout was charged with deliberate homicide on June 26, 2007.4CaseMine. State v. Stout, No. DA 09-0112
The Fake Stalker Investigators Uncovered
Immediately after the killing, Stout and her sons pointed police toward Barbara Miller, an Arkansas woman with whom Bill Stout had a brief affair in 2005. Miller was quickly cleared: store surveillance video placed her in Arkansas at the time of the shooting.5Justia. State v. Stout
What investigators found instead was a roughly two-year harassment campaign that Anne Marie Stout had aimed at her own family and made to look like Miller’s work. Beginning in 2005, Bill, Anne, their sons, and several friends received emails and letters postmarked from Arkansas claiming Miller was pregnant with Bill’s child, that she planned to move to Montana to replace Anne, and inviting family members to a “barbecue” celebrating Bill and Miller’s relationship.5Justia. State v. Stout
Forensics tied all of it back to Stout. The email accounts had been created on her work computer, and some messages went out from her home computer as well. Handwriting analysis linked her to a “barbecue” invitation found in the couple’s bedroom. Her DNA was the only DNA on the adhesive of an envelope postmarked from Arkansas. The Arkansas postmarks turned out to be a routing trick: letters were sent from Hamilton, Montana, to a postmaster in Fort Smith, Arkansas, who forwarded them. Letters carrying those Arkansas postmarks were later found in Stout’s car. Petty vandalism attributed to the “stalker” and hang-up phone calls traced to a pay phone at Anne’s workplace were tied to her as well.5Justia. State v. Stout
The Trial
Stout, then 46, was tried in 2008 in Ravalli County District Court before Judge Jeffrey Langton. The trial ran nearly three weeks and heard from more than 50 witnesses.6Missoulian. Anne Stout Found Guilty Prosecuting Attorney Geoff Mahar and co-counsel Bill Fulbright presented the crime-scene forensics, the evidence of the fabricated stalking, Stout’s internet searches for “legal mental defense” and “how to poison someone,” and a handwritten note in her handwriting, found in a nightstand, that paraphrased directions for operating a 9mm Beretta. The prosecution cited financial trouble, depression, the affair, and a life insurance policy as motive.3Ravalli Republic. Stout Murder Trial Coverage
Defense attorney Ed Sheehy Jr. argued Bill Stout had taken his own life, pointing to the family’s tax debts, including a $500,000 tax lien, and to the fact that no neighbors reported hearing a gunshot. Sheehy suggested the death could have occurred on a Sunday when Anne and one of her sons were shopping in Missoula.3Ravalli Republic. Stout Murder Trial Coverage The jury returned a guilty verdict in under six hours.6Missoulian. Anne Stout Found Guilty
Sentence
On September 26, 2008, Judge Langton sentenced Stout to life in prison. He said he found no mitigating circumstances and that Stout had shown no remorse, remarking that she appeared to suffer from an “inability to accept reality” and had “a great deal of soul searching and mental health work” ahead of her before rehabilitation could be considered possible. He left parole on the table but conditioned any future consideration on Stout completing a psychological evaluation and any recommended mental health treatment.7Ravalli Republic. Stout Sentenced to Life in Prison
Appeals and Post-Conviction Rulings
The Montana Supreme Court affirmed both the conviction and the life sentence on June 22, 2010, in State v. Stout, 2010 MT 137. Writing for the court, Chief Justice Mike McGrath held that evidence of the fabricated stalking campaign was properly admitted because it was “inextricably linked” to the charged crime.8vLex. State v. Stout, 2010 MT 137
In April 2011, Stout filed a petition for post-conviction relief raising four claims: that the trial court erred in admitting the fabricated-email evidence, that her attorney was ineffective in limiting how the jury could consider it, that she had “nothing to do” with the fabricated documents, and that her attorney had failed to raise the suicide defense on direct appeal.9Ravalli Republic. District Judge Affirms Stout Murder Conviction
On December 6, 2011, Judge Langton denied all four claims, ruling each was “either procedurally barred, without merit or both.” He wrote that the evidence of suicide was “scant, at best,” citing the shot to the back of the head, the moved body, the blood under the bedsheet, and the gun stashed on the motorcycle.2Billings Gazette. Judge Rules Against Darby Woman Appealing Conviction in Husband’s Murder No further appeals or post-conviction filings by Stout have been publicly reported since.
When She Could Be Eligible for Parole
Montana Code Annotated section 46-23-201 provides that a prisoner serving a life sentence is generally not eligible for non-medical parole until 30 years have been served.1Montana State Legislature. Montana Code Annotated 46-23-201 Stout’s sentence began in September 2008, which puts her earliest possible parole eligibility around 2038. Even at that point, Judge Langton’s sentencing order requires her to have completed a psychological evaluation and any recommended mental health treatment before parole can be considered.7Ravalli Republic. Stout Sentenced to Life in Prison