Deputy Missoula County Attorney Jason Marks announced this week that he will run for the county attorney's office position now held by incumbent Fred Van Valkenburg.
In May of 2012, the University of Montana and the City of Missoula entered into a three-year agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division over the issue of sexual assaults on campus and in the community.
It's a phenomenon Missoula Police Chief doesn't understand, that is why reports of sexual assaults have soared since the city signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, who took the city to task on the subject in an investigation that lasted nearly a year.
During Wednesday's news conference with the Department of Justice, the subject of the Missoula County Attorney's lack of cooperation with the various investigations came up yet again.
Today, May 15, representatives of the Department of Justice, the city of Missoula and the Missoula police department met to disclose a comprehensive agreement over the response to sexual assault in Missoula.
Thursday, May 9, the U. S. Department of Justice held a news conference to release findings of a year-long study into the response by The University of Montana, the City Police Department and the Missoula County Attorney to the issue of sexual assaults.
At the Thursday, May 9 press conference featuring Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division's Roy Austin, U. S. Attorney for Montana Mike Cotter and University of Montana President Royce Engstrom, steps to address the problem of sexual assault were spelled out.
On May 1, 2012, Thomas Perez with the U. S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division held a news conference to announce an investigation into sexual assaults on the UM campus and in the city of Missoula.
THE VERDICT
The jury of seven women and five men took just a few hours to decide that Jordan Johnson was not guilty of sexually assaulting a fellow University of Montana student on the night of Feb. 4, 2012 as the two watched a movie at her house.
Jordan Johnson continued the testimony he began Tuesday in Missoula Dstrict Court today, Feb. 27, telling his side of the story regarding a relationship, and subsequent sexual encounter, he had with a fellow University of Montana student who said he raped her Feb. 4, 2012.