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(HELENA) A Great Falls man who pleaded guilty to shooting another man at point-blank range while high on methamphetamine has been sentenced to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
It was an emotional day in court as the family of Cody Bruyere shared their grief on the loss of their beloved brother and son.
“He was not only my son, Cody was my best friend. Now I do not have him anymore,” Steve Bruyere, Cody’s father said.
Steve Bruyere spoke about the kindness Cody had for others, recalling a car accident the family was in when Cody was only 13.
“He gets all of his sisters out of the car and gets everyone on the side of the road. For a young man that young to be able to handle that and then to go through soMething like this. He was so loved,” Bruyere said.
Branden Miesmer pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide in March, acknowledging he shot 26-year-old Cody Bruyere in the head in September of last year.
Miesmer said he had used intravenous meth for the first time that day.
According to court documents, at about 6:05 a.m. on Monday, September 7th, a gas station attendant at Friendly’s gas station in Helena reported that two men and one woman arrived in a Subaru Baja, and out of hearing range of the two men, the woman told the clerk that she and one of the men had been carjacked by the other man, later identified as Miesmer, and that Miesmer had a gun.
About four hours later, Helena Dispatch received a call from a Subway shop on Cedar Street; the caller said that a man and a woman had been carjacked and left at the Subway store by the suspect.
Miesmer then drove north toward Black Sandy State Park near Hauser Dam, triggering a “saturation search” by dozens of law enforcement officers.
Helena police officers interviewed the two victims, who told officers that they had been with the suspect, later identified as Miesmer, and had gone with him to the Great Falls house.
Court documents state that when the three arrived at the house, Miesmer told them to get gas and then come back. When they returned, they heard a gunshot inside the home.
The man and woman told officers that they were attempting to leave when Miesmer ran out of the house and jumped in the back of the car, pointed a gun at them, and told them to begin driving.
One of the people told officers that Miesmer later said that he had gone into the house, walked up to the occupant, and shot him in the face.
Great Falls police officers investigating the scene broke into the house and found the body of a man on the kitchen floor with what appeared to a single gunshot wound to the head; a .45-caliber casing was nearby.
Officers also found marijuana and other drug paraphernalia in the vicinity.
Court documents state that Miesmer has a criminal history that includes “crimes of violence,” and that he is currently being investigated for drug trafficking.
Miesmer was captured Wednesday, September 9 in the evening after a three-day search in the hills above Hauser Dam in Lewis & Clark County.
Law enforcement officials said during a press briefing back in September that Miesmer was captured in an old trailer on the 6900 block of Black Sandy Loop.
Scores of law enforcement officers from several agencies spent three days searching for Miesmer, going door-to-door, using helicopters and search dogs, and setting up roadblocks and conducting vehicle checks.
The search involved agents from the FBI, Montana Highway Patrol, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, SWAT teams from Gallatin County, Flathead County, and Cascade County, and three helicopters.
Lewis & Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton, joined by Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, Undersheriff Dave Rau, and Helena Police Chief Troy McGee, praised all of the law enforcement officers and agencies involved in the 3-day search for Miesmer.
Sheriff Dutton noted that Miesmer was armed with a gun, as they had initially reported.
Dutton said, “Unfortunately this individual held our community in the grips of fear for the past three days.”
He detailed the arrest of Miesmer: “A group of officers and deputies were moving through an area that was fairly close to the original area that he took off. He was found in a trailer, it was a pull trailer, where he had taken shelter.”
Fox noted, “It’s more like a pull utility trailer that someone had used to put a little bed in it. It was full of rat droppings and other things. It wasn’t very nice.”
Dutton said, “He was spotted by a deputy that pulled down and saw the trailer, went to investigate and found him in there.
Dutton said of Miesmer: “He’s exhausted. He’s dehydrated. He hasn’t drank anything for three days. He did apologize for causing all of us this inconvenience. He was compliant and very subdued. He had his feet wrapped. He’d taken some of his clothing and wrapped his feet, but he does have some blisters on his feet. He was going to kill himself. Today was his last day. He couldn’t take it anymore.”
Dutton praised the dozens of law enforcement offices involved in the search: “The credit goes to those men and women that you saw here. What you saw was a dedication of local agencies, state agencies, federal agencies.”
Following his evaluation at St. Peter’s Hospital in Helena, Miesmer was transferred to the Lewis & Clark County Detention Center.
Sheriff Dutton praised residents in the area for their cooperation and support, and for sharing their knowledge of the area.
On social media, praise for law enforcement officers poured in, with people expressing relief that he had been captured, and gratitude for the professionalism of law enforcement officers.
Judge John Kutzman said Miesmer showed little remorse after the shooting.
Defense counsel asked for a 100-year sentence with 40 years suspended. Kutzman gave him 100 years with no time suspended and no chance for parole.
Miesmer will spend the rest of his life behind bars, a sentence Bruyere’s family agreed with. Cody’s father also wanted to dispel rumors that surfaced on social media after his son’s death.
“It has nothing to do with any drugs, it was over a girl. I am very happy about the sentence that was handed down. He’s never getting out,” Bruyere said.
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