Firearms trial underway for Jermain Charlo’s former boyfriend

A federal trial is underway in Missoula examining whether Jermain Charlo’s former boyfriend illegally possessed firearms following an assault on her in 2013.

Michael B. DeFrance was indicted in July 2021 on a prohibited possession of a firearm charge. A few months later, in October, a second indictment was filed alleging DeFrance had lied on three separate occasions during firearms transactions at a local pawn shop about being convicted of a domestic violence incident involving Charlo in 2013, a conviction that prosecutors say bars DeFrance from owning weapons.

This June will mark five years since Charlo vanished from Missoula. Although details around her disappearance remain murky, her case remains active.

Since DeFrance’s case started in U.S. District Court in Missoula, he and his attorney, federal defender Michael Donahoe, have filed multiple motions contending the domestic violence charge DeFrance was convicted of in 2013 is not sufficiently specific to justify the indictments.

Much of Wednesday’s trial established the breadth of Charlo and DeFrance’s relationship leading up to the partner or family member assault (PFMA) conviction.

Jermain’s aunts, Valenda Morigeau and Danielle Matt, testified that Charlo lived in Dixon with her family. They recalled she spent time between her family’s house and DeFrance’s residence, just down the street from Charlo’s family home. Her aunts said she spent an overwhelming number of days and nights with DeFrance despite protests from her family, sometimes skipping school to be with him. When Jermain turned 18, she moved into a camper with DeFrance.

“She wanted the relationship to always work until it didn’t of course,” Matt said. She explained that Charlo’s loved ones didn’t want her with DeFrance because of concerns surrounding abuse and Charlo’s absence from school.

Court records show DeFrance was convicted of partner or family member assault on May 6, 2013, stemming from an April 13, 2013 incident where a Sanders County sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to a domestic violence call. When they arrived and met with DeFrance, he admitted to hitting Charlo and was arrested.

The Sanders County deputy who responded to the assault call testified that when he asked Charlo if DeFrance would make possessive comments toward her, she said yes.

Prosecutors played two short, YouTube blog-style videos posted by Charlo in September 2013, just months after the PFMA incident. In them, Charlo mentions she’s staying with her boyfriend in a camper and that her parents weren’t happy about her living situation.

Missoula police detective Guy Baker confirmed to the Missoulian that the firearms indictments are in relation to Baker’s investigation into Charlo’s disappearance on June 16, 2018. Court documents say the initial prohibited firearms indictment is from DeFrance possessing firearms and ammunition on June 27 and Oct. 2, 2018.

June 27, 2018 is 11 days after Charlo went missing.

Shortly after she vanished, search warrants (that were part of the missing person case) were executed on DeFrance’s Evaro Hill house. In an October search of his house, law enforcement found three guns, including two rifles in DeFrance’s bedroom, and a handgun near the front door. Photos shown in court depict the three firearms found throughout the residence.

Baker, who is the lead detective in Charlo’s missing person case, testified that he determined through DeFrance’s criminal history, he was a prohibited possessor of firearms because of the 2013 Sanders County PFMA conviction. At the house, Baker asked DeFrance why he had the weapons. DeFrance is heard in a recording saying he wasn’t clear on why.

During Baker’s time on the stand, questions were raised about the missing person case and Charlo’s whereabouts.

“Every effort to determine what happened to her has been unsuccessful,” Baker said.

Investigators from the Missoula Police Department, Missoula Sheriff’s Office and the FBI have spent thousands of hours on the case. Searches have been held in Missoula, Lake and Sanders counties, according to Baker.

DeFrance’s case has been pending in federal court since the summer of 2021. In August 2022, a trial date was vacated and DeFrance and his attorney filed the case with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Earlier this month, the appeals court denied his request to review the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Clark and Timothy Racicot are prosecuting the case.

The bench trial will resume on Thursday. It’s unclear when Judge Dana L. Christensen, who is presiding over the trial, will decide on a verdict.

This article was first published in the Missoulian.