Trial underway in Bigfork double homicide

Prosecutors on Monday told jurors that they could link accused killer Derrick James Jackson to the gun used in the shooting death of his mother and her partner in Bigfork in 2022.  

Authorities discovered the bodies of Stanley Allen Grotberg, 65, and Tricia Lynn Demotts, 62, in their Estaban Lane home on Oct. 28, 2022 after arresting Jackson, who allegedly had been harassing neighbors in the days preceding the murders. A bottle of prescription medicine — made out to Grotberg — was found on Jackson and prompted Flathead County Sheriff’s Office deputies to perform a welfare check on the couple.  

“We are here because those two bodies were found dead in their home with gunshot wounds, two each to the head,” Deputy County Attorney Amy Kennison told the jury in her opening statement in Flathead County District Court on March 31.  

Jackson faces two counts of felony deliberate homicide and one count each of tampering with evidence and drug possession in connection with the double homicide. He pleaded not guilty in February 2023.  

Deputies had come face-to-face with Jackson earlier in the evening while responding to multiple reports of an armed man wandering around Estaban Lane, according to charging documents. They found him standing in tall grass on the edge of private property, Kennison said.  

Instead of obeying the deputy’s commands, Jackson allegedly hung back and played with his waistband, Kennison told the jury. When he eventually did come forward, the deputy allegedly found a magazine or clip on him along with the prescription bottle.  

Before departing for the county jail, the deputy decided to search through the tall grass, Kennison said. That’s where he found a loaded Smith and Wesson pistol, she told jurors.  

Experts will match the casings found in Grotberg’s and Demott’s home to the gun recovered in the tall grass, Kennison said. They will demonstrate that blood found on the gun and Jackson’s clothes belonged to Grotberg, she said.  

And they will show that Jackson’s clothes had gunshot residue at the time of his arrest, Kennison said.  

But defense attorney Levi Roadman argued in his opening statement that the Flathead County Attorney’s Office had relied on inference, speculation and assumption when building the case against Jackson. He likened the prosecutors to real estate agents trying to sell the jury a home. 

“They’ll be attempting to convince you that this home is perfect,” Roadman said. “It is your dream home. It is without flaw. You will be happy for the rest of your life in this house." 

In the analogy, he said the defense team, which included him and Thomas Schoenleben of Bitterroot Law, served as home inspectors.  

“We plan to show you that there are just some massive holes,” he said. “We expect to show you that the state’s entire theory about this case is deeply, deeply flawed.” 

Roadman urged jurors to keep an open mind and adopt a healthy dose of skepticism. He also indicated that they would hear from Jackson before the trial’s end.  

“Now there is one person alive today who knows what happened out on Estaban Lane in October 2022. And he’s sitting right over there,” he said, pointing to Jackson, who wore a gray suit and dark tie at the defendant’s table.  

Following opening statements, jurors heard from neighbors who interacted with Jackson in the days before the double murder as well as law enforcement officers who responded to various calls allegedly involving Jackson during that same stretch of time.  

Judge Amy Eddy is presiding over the trial, which is scheduled to run through early next week. 

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.