Defense Asks Court To Remove Death Penalty In Geno Case

Clovis Christopher Geno, 54, of Memphis, Tenn., was arrested Wednesday, Feb. 19, for allegedly killing his girlfriend in the Culbertson area in January. Geno is asking the Montana Supreme Court to take the death penalty off the table.

The case against Geno was filed in February by Roosevelt County Attorney Austin Knudsen. Knudsen is active in the Montana Attorney General’s race this fall.

Geno is accused of fatally strangling Ramona Hilton Naramore at their Culbertson apartment sometime between Jan. 25 and Jan. 26. Neighbors told investigators that Geno had a history of physically abusing his girlfriend and noted she expressed fear of him and sometimes had visible injuries.

Geno’s defense attorneys have asked the lower court to strike the death penalty as a possible sentence and twice been denied. District Judge David Cybulski is presiding in the case.

Geno’s attorneys filed a petition in early August for a writ of supervisory control, a legal tool in Montana that allows the Montana Supreme Court to step in when asked in cases where the lower court is proceeding under a legal mistake.

Geno is represented by Greg Rapkoch and Alisha Backus of the Office of the State Public Defender. They say Knudsen did not follow the proper legal process to seek the death penalty and the lower court must be corrected. The attorneys said Knudsen also failed to file a special notice of intent to seek the death penalty within 60 days of arraignment, the defense attorneys said.

Knudsen clearly noted that he intended to seek the death penalty in charging documents, but defense attorneys argue that wasn’t enough to comply with the state’s rules for death penalty cases.

Geno’s lawyers said that the requirements for death penalty cases are necessary because they put the Office of the Public Defender on notice that qualified counsel needs to be appointed.

Cybulski issued a gag order earlier in the case barring attorneys from making extra-judicial statements to the media.

Department of Justice Spokesman John Barnes said the office was unaware that Knudsen was seeking the death penalty in the case until Monday.

A Montana district court judge ruled in 2015 that the drug scheduled to be used in executions, pentobarbital, did not meet the legal standard for lethal injection. The order effectively put a hold on executions in the state. There are two men currently in Montana State Prison awaiting execution.