A seven-person jury determined no criminality in the Feb. 23 shooting of Michael Hanson.

Hanson was killed after an interaction with a Cascade County Sheriff’s Office deputy at 77 Wexford Lane, which is owned by Pamela Polejewski.

The deputy, Det. Jake Tri, had arrived at the property to execute a search warrant but was waiting for another deputy when Hanson approached his vehicle.

The deputies were investigating Polejewski who was believed to have animals on the property in violation of her bond conditions from a 2020 animal cruelty case.

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Polejewski was charged in May 2020 with a felony count of aggravated animal cruelty; and three felony and one misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals, according to the search warrant unsealed and provided earlier this year by County Attorney Josh Racki.

Deputies had responded on May 6, 2020 to a fire at 77 Wexford Lane where a trailer had burned to the ground and some animals had been killed in the fire.

In January 2024, a neighboring property owner had reported to CCSO that he thought he heard dogs barking from 77 Wexford Lane, knowing Polejewski was barred from having animals, and that there had been activity on the property.

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Deputies investigated those reports and in February, an off-duty deputy saw Polejewski purchasing cat litter at a local store.

That prompted more investigation and deputies obtained a search warrant for 77 Wexford Lane.

A deputy arrived at the property around 4:45 p.m. on Feb. 23.

Tri testified during the June 4 coroner’s inquest that it had been a normal shift until about lunchtime when the off-duty deputy called him after seeing Polejewski purchasing animal supplies.

Tri said he was at home on lunch at the time, so he went to Wal-Mart to continue the investigation.

Tri testified that with information from Wal-Mart and Polejewski’s neighbor, he began the process of obtaining a search warrant for 77 Wexford.

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Another deputy was surveilling her property but she saw him and identified him as law enforcement. He had followed her to Smith’s where he lost her in that area.

Tri met the other deputy in the Smith’s parking lot where they saw her vehicle. At that point, Judge John Kutzman called to authorize the search warrant.

Tri and County Attorney Josh Racki said it took about 1.5 to 2 hours to get the search warrant that day.

Tri said he looked for Polejewski in the store but couldn’t locate her, so called her to tell her they had a search warrant for her property and were seizing her vehicle. During that call, Tri said Polejewski told him she’d purchased the items for Hanson who had animals on the Wexford property.

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Tri testified that he had asked the other detective to go back to CCSO and pick up an evidence technician and to print a copy of the search warrant. The other deputy helping on the case had been called to another incident, so Tri said he called the detective to come back to Smith’s and follow the tow truck for photographs and chain of custody and that Tri would proceed to 77 Wexford and await backup to execute the search warrant.

Tri testified he was in plainclothes that day, so he put on his vest that identified him as CCSO.

Tri testified that he was planning to do surveillance until another deputy arrived, but as he was stopping, saw Hanson approach his vehicle.

“It was apparent that Mike wanted to speak to me,” Tri testified during the June 4 inquest, so got out of his vehicle and asked Hanson how it was going.

Tri recorded their interaction and the audio was played during the inquest.

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Tri told Hanson he had a search warrant and that Hanson needed to leave the property. Hanson wanted to see the warrant and asked why Tri didn’t chase real criminals.

Hanson said Polejewski hadn’t done anything wrong, but he didn’t know the conditions of her bond when asked.

Tri testified that Hanson started to walk away and he told Hanson to come back to leave the property, asking if anyone else was on the property.

Tri testified that he knew when he’d left Smith’s to go to Wexford, all other deputies on duty were tied up on other calls so he had no backup.

Tri said he was worried he’d lose the audio recording if he pulled up the electronic warrant on his phone and based on how Hanson was acting, he didn’t want to lose the audio.

Tri said he jumped over the gate to arrest Hanson, when Hanson reached into his pocket.

“At this point, shit’s gone south,” Tri testified during the June 4 inquest.

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Tri said Hanson still had his hand in his pocket so he started to pull his weapon and asked Hanson what he had as the weapon cleared his pocket and was pointed at Tri.

“I know at that point if I don’t stop Mike from shooting me, he’s going to shoot me,” Tri testified.

Tri testified that his gun malfunctioned, which the crime lab confirmed, so he was trying to fix that as Hanson was shooting at him and he was hit in the shoulder. He returned fire and Hanson fell to the ground.

Tri testified that he ran his vehicle to tell dispatch that shots had been fired, he was hit and the suspect was down.

A doctor with the State Crime Lab in Missoula testified that Hanson was struck by two bullets, one grazed his neck and the other entered his chest and was the fatal wound.

Tri said he couldn’t tell if the bullet had exited his body and that if it had entered his chest, “I knew I was going to die that day.”

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He said after reporting to dispatch, he called his wife so she’d hear about the incident from him instead of anyone else and also called Lt. Jon Kadner of CCSO who was off that day, “so the facts were known if I were to pass away on Wexford Lane that day.”

Tri testified that he was in his vehicle applying a tourniquet to himself waiting for backup to arrive.

A dispatcher can be heard in the audio saying, “we’ve got everybody heading your way.”

Sheriff Jesse Slaughter testified that the ambulance couldn’t get to the scene because the road was too muddy, so Slaughter drove Tri in his vehicle to meet the ambulance and rode with him to the hospital.

Slaughter told The Electric in May that Tri was on administrative leave for his injury for about a month and also while the Montana Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation investigated the incident, which is standard practice in officer involved shootings, and had since gone back on duty.

The bullet did exit through Tri’s back and didn’t hit any vital organs, officials testified on June 4.

Slaughter testified that law enforcement had had previous interactions with Polejewski in “horrific” animal cruelty cases.

Racki, the county attorney, said he’d been prosecuting Polejewski since he started with the county attorney’s office in 2005.

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Slaughter testified that based on her history, he had directed deputies to be vigilant in her case because of the animal abuse itself but also the drain on manpower in handling those cases.

On Feb. 23, the day of the shooting, Slaughter said he was on his way home because he was planning to attend an annual search and rescue dinner.

He said he was on the phone with Racki on another matter when the initial call came over the radio so he didn’t hear it, but Undersheriff Scott Van Dyken called and told him Tri had been shot.

Slaughter said he turned around with lights and sirens at high speed to get to the scene.

He was among the first on scene and was helping Tri determine if the bullet had exited his body, but was also worried there was another person on the scene since a dispatched had said two suspects were shot.

A CCSO deputy, who is a trained coroner, declared Hanson dead at the scene.

Slaughter said he was getting a public safety statement from Tri, which isn’t to determine anything beyond whether there’s further risk to the public.

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Slaughter testified that it’s common practice to ask people to leave property while executing a search warrant for everyone’s safety and evidence preservation.

He said there’s no legal requirement to show someone a paper copy of a search warrant.

If Hanson has complied, Slaughter said, he’d probably still be alive today.

Agent Bruce McDermott with the Montana Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation, conducted the review of the shooting.

He said that Hanson had pulled the trigger eight times, despite there being only five rounds in the chamber.

McDermott testified that the physical evidence matched Tri’s account of the shooting.

McDermott said that in a search of Hanson’s phone, the log showed Polejewski had called Hanson right after Tri radioed that he was leaving Smith’s to head to Wexford Lane, in a five minute and 47 second call that ended just as Tri radioed he had arrived at Wexford.

He said that he spoke to Tim and Angel Hanson, the deceased’s son and daughter-in-law. The revolver used in the shooting was purchased by Angel Hanson years ago, but the couple wouldn’t share details on how or why Hanson came to have it in his possession.

“No question this is a justified use of force,” McDermott testified.

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Kadner testified that he went to the law enforcement academy in 2005, which was on the heels of a major animal cruelty investigation on Polejewski’s property.

He conducted the internal review of the Feb. 23 shooting to determine if CCSO procedures and policies were followed.

At the time of the incident, Polejewski was out on bond from her 2020 cruelty to animals investigation with a condition that she not possess animals.

She’s been trespassed from 48 Wexford Lane, as well as the Vaughn and Sun Prairie fire stations, Kadner said.

Hanson had a $750 warrant on a contempt change from original charges of dogs at large and nuisance dogs.

Both had alerts in their files of being confrontational with law enforcement, Kadner testified.

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The CCSO began investigating Polejewski in 1996 and over two decades, completed 51 animal related investigations.

He said it was not CCSO picking on her, but citizens making complaints.

In 2005, CCSO conducted a large scale animal cruelty case that resulted in the removal of more than 150 animals, including dogs and horses, Kadner said.

During that investigation, Hanson had said the dogs would be adopted out over his “dead body,” Kadner said.

The 2020 investigation after the fire on her property led to the removal of 172 animals of all types.

Kadner said that from the time Tri had radioed that a male was walking toward him to his report that shots had been fired, two minutes and 41 seconds had elapsed.

After the shooting, they processed the scene and executed the initial warrant, finding at least 30 cats in a trailer in poor conditions, Kadner said.

In closing, Racki said that the jury had to determine if Hanson’s death was caused by criminal means or was justified as self defense.

“Mike Hanson got himself shot,” Racki said.

He said that Hanson could have stepped off the property, even with the gun, and been fine, but instead pulled a gun on the deputy, causing the deputy to use deadly force, and “unfortunately as a result, Mike Hanson got himself killed that day.”

The jury deliberated for a short time and came back with a unanimous decision that the shooting was not by criminal means.