Lincoln C. Benavides, 33, has denied killing the women - Brenda Patch, Cynthia Paulus and Dorothy Harris - whose throats were slit on Nov. 6, 2001, in Harris' Hair Gallery in Florence.
Brian Weber, 31, is a co-defendant in the case and remains eligible for capital punishment. He also has pleaded innocent to the charges.
The indictment charging Weber, however, explicitly lists intentional acts leading to the triple homicide, which shook communities up and down the Bitterroot Valley.
In order to find Benavides eligible for the death penalty, the state had to prove at least one of the following:
- That Benavides purposely killed the women.
- That he purposely inflicted serious bodily injury resulting in death.
- That he purposely engaged in conduct to create “grave risk” of death.
The men, both convicted drug dealers, were charged with a 15-count indictment in April, with prosecutors alleging the murders were related to a drug ring run by Benavides between 1999 and 2001.
Court records describe Benavides as the leader of a drug distribution ring that sold methamphetamine in Idaho and western Montana. Weber was a lower-level distributor, records state, but also an enforcer for Benavides, beating up other dealers who didn't pay on time.
Benavides has been housed at the Ravalli County jail in Hamilton, while Weber remains jailed in Missoula on a federal hold.
The trial is set to begin March 1, 2010, at the Russell Smith Courthouse in Missoula.
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