1 week Ago
Retired Montana District Court Judge Kurt Krueger has been recalled to the bench so he can see a case to its conclusion next week and sentence a man convicted of raping a young girl in Butte. Krueger had overseen the case since charges were filed against Gordon Duane Ballensky in May 2023 and he presided over a jury trial in September that ended with convictions for rape and tampering with evidence. Ballensky is now 61.
Krueger did not seek a fifth term on the bench in 2024 and retired at the beginning of this year, with sentencing in the Ballensky case still pending. In this file photo, a police officer escorts Gordon Duane Ballensky out of state District Court in Butte on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, after a jury found him guilty of raping a young girl in Butte.
Frank Joseph was elected in November to replace Krueger and in February he asked the Montana Supreme Court to recall Krueger to duty and resume jurisdiction of the Ballensky case and two other cases. Kreuger was agreeable to that and Cory Swanson, chief justice of the state’s high court, formally called Krueger back to “active service” as allowed under state law to see those cases through. Swanson’s order allows Krueger to “proceed with any and all necessary hearings, opinions and orders, including final resolution of said matters.
” That includes sentencing in the Ballensky case, which Kruger has set for Thursday, April 10, in state District Court in Butte. Prosecutors charged Ballensky with sexual intercourse without consent for raping one girl and charged him with sexual assault for allegedly groping another girl. He was also charged with tampering with evidence for deleting or destroying videos from electronic devices.
Jurors deliberated more than six hours over two days in September before convicting Ballensky on the rape and tampering charges. They found him not guilty of the sexual assault charge. Because of the ages involved, the rape conviction carries a mandatory 100-year prison sentence in Montana with no chance of parole for the first 25 years.
Krueger can still suspend a portion of the 100 years but not the first 25, and parole eligibility would not start until those 25 years are served. The tampering conviction is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The girls were 12 and 10 when they told their parents what was happening in November 2019 and both testified at trial in September.
One was 17 in September, the other 14. Ballensky is a grandfather to the girls. He lived in Butte but moved elsewhere after charges were filed.
The investigation and case were stalled in part because of DNA testing delays during COVID. On Dec. 31, before Kreuger retired, he denied post-trial defense motions to dismiss the case or at least order a new trial based on suppression-of-evidence grounds and other claims.
In January, prosecutors charged Ballensky with six new felony counts of sexual abuse of children for allegedly having images of children engaged in sex acts on his personal computers. Prosecutors say further investigation and analysis in the rape case revealed that Ballensky had scores of images of underage girls, some nude and some in underwear but in sexual poses. The images were allegedly on his desktop and laptop seized from his home in 2019.
Many of the girls appeared to be 12 to 15 years old and there was one image of a nude boy aged 13 to 16, prosecutors say. Ballensky was arraigned on those charges before Judge Joseph and pleaded not guilty. Joseph has set trial in that case for May 5 but initial trial dates are often postponed.
Mike Smith is a reporter at the Montana Standard with an emphasis on government and politics. Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email..
