Plea Agreement Reached in 2015 Pryor Montana Murders

A Worland man has agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder charges and other crimes in the July 2015 shooting of a Pryor couple who had stopped on a road to help him on Montana’s Crow Reservation.

A plea agreement filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Billings said 19 year old Jesus Mendoza of Worland will plead guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, assault with intent to commit murder, three counts of using a firearm in a crime of violence and assault with a dangerous weapon.

A March 7 change of plea hearing is scheduled. Prosecutors will seek consecutive sentences of life in prison.

Mendoza was originally charged with two counts of first degree murder and other crimes in the shooting deaths of Jason and Tana Shane. The Shanes were attempting to help Mendoza on a roadside near Pryor when he shot them. Their daughter was wounded.

Mendoza was arrested shortly after the murders north of Meeteetse by officers from the Park County Sheriff’s Office and Wyoming Highway Patrol after a deputy spotted him headed south on Highway 120 south of Cody.