Andrade sentenced in criminal endangerment case, homicide case pending
Charlotte Andrade was sentenced in district court this week on charges of criminal endangerment and criminal mischief from a May 2025 incident.
During a March 18 hearing, Judge David Grubich sentenced her to a five year Montana Department of Corrections commitment, with no time suspended, for the criminal endangerment charge, and six months in the county jail on the criminal mischief charge. Grubich ordered that she pay $480 in restitution to the victim.
He also recommended screening for a substance abuse treatment program and anger management.
Andrade homicide case continuing, sentencing scheduled in criminal mischief case
Andrade received credit for 272 days of time served.
Andrade remains in custody on a $1 million bond facing felony counts of deliberate homicide and attempted deliberate homicide from a June 2025 shooting.
Andrade entered a guilty by Alford plea in January on the charges from the May 2025 incident.
An Alford plea is a defendant acknowledging there’s enough evidence to convict but not admitting to the facts. It carries the same significance in sentencing as a guilty plea.
Andrade takes plea deal in May incident, homicide case pending
The recommended sentence in the plea agreement was a three year commitment to the Montana DOC on the criminal endangerment charge and six months in the county jail plus restitution on the criminal mischief charge.
Anger management was recommended for both counts.
The court wasn’t bound by the agreement may impose a sentence other than the recommendations.
During the March 18 sentencing hearing, Andrade’s defense attorney, Michael Kuntz, argued against restitution since she’s been incarcerated and is likely to remain in the county jail pending resolution of the homicide charges.
Amanda Lofink, a deputy county attorney prosecuting the case, said that the probation office validated her association with known gang members, but did not find her to be a member herself.
Lofink told Grubich that the May 2025 incident was gang related activity but not charged as such with a gang enhancement, as it couldn’t be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
She said that the prosecution wasn’t asking for a harsher punishment because of that association, but the court is allowed to consider those affiliations.
In the May case, In the May case, Andrade and two males approached a victim on foot while she was at the gas pump, according to court documents.
Andrade appears in court for May criminal endangerment case [2025]
Andrade told the victim and her friends to leave and a verbal argument ensued, with the victim and her friends getting into her vehicle to leave, but the victim got back out and continued the argument, according to court documents.
Andrade allegedly pulled out a BB gun and shot at the victim’s vehicle twice, causing damage, then pointed it at the victim’s face from four or five feet away and shot the victim in the face, according to charging documents.
There was a warrant for Andrade’s arrest on the charges in the criminal endangerment case when she was arrested and charged in June 2025 with the felony counts of deliberate homicide and attempted deliberate homicide for a shooting at the Phoenix Apartments.
Kuntz, her defense attorney, said during the March 18 sentencing hearing that Andrade had completed seven online courses while in the jail.
Ahenakew sentenced in 2023 stabbing, transferred to state prison [2025]
He said that her pending chard can’t be considered and that she was acquitted in her previous case.
Kuntz said that knowing people in a gang doesn’t make you a member, but wasn’t arguing that shooting someone in the face isn’t serious.
He said she’s accepted responsibility.
During the hearing, Andrade told Grubich that she doesn’t claim any gang association but that she’s taken a good look at people she has associated with and understands she needs to be serious in choosing better environments and people to achieve her goals.
Andrade charged in early morning shooting death [2025]
Grubich said from everything he’d seen in the case, Andrade didn’t know the victim and there was “absolutely no reason why this occurred other than a sheer act of violence. The victim did nothing to you and from what I can see, nobody did.”
Andrade was charged with accountability to deliberate homicide in 2023 in connection with the stabbing death of Tammey McWilliams, 51, near Chowen Springs Park.
CCSO identifies homicide victim, investigation ongoing [2023]
Andrade was 18 at the time.
A jury found her not guilty in 2024.
Grubich said the facts of the 2023 stabbing case were a factor he could consider in assessing her character.
“You were involved in a circumstance where a woman was stabbed to death and you played a part. That doesn’t happen to many people,” Grubich said.
Over two years, Grubich said Andrade was involved in a woman being stabbed to death, a man being shot to death, another man being shot in the shoulder and a woman being shot with a BB gun.
In the May 2025 case, Grubich said “we’re all lucky you didn’t have an actual gun in your hand,” and that she was “calm and callous enough” to shoot someone in the face.
Jury finds man not guilty in 2023 Sun River homicide case
Grubich said he listens to the statements of defendants, families and others in considering sentencing but what tells him the most about a person’s character is their actions rather than their words.
Grubich said Andrade’s mother submitted a letter describing Andrade as empathetic, caring, compassionate, selfless, understanding of right and wrong and upright person.
He said she came across as an intelligent person during her statement during the hearing, “but all that is overshadowed by what you do.”
Grubich said that Andrade’s actions in the May 2025 incident caused harm to the victim and the broader community by affecting public’s sense of safety.
“I do find that you’re a danger to others,” Grubich said.
