BUTTE — The Montana Supreme Court says a judge did not abuse her discretion when she sentenced Lloyd Barrus to the Montana State Prison instead of a state mental health facility for his role in the 2017 shooting death of a Broadwater County deputy.

Barrus argued in an appeal that he suffered from mental health disorders during the shooting of Deputy Mason Moore and a subsequent high-speed chase and was unable to grasp the criminality of his behavior at the time.

Because of that, his appeals lawyers contended, he should have been sentenced to the Montana Department of Health and Human Services instead of state prison overseen by the Montana Department of Corrections.

But the state’s high court, in a 5-0 ruling issued Tuesday, said District Judge Kathy Seeley properly weighed mental healt

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