Montana Lawyer April/May 2025

Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer and Federal Defenders of Montana Awards Presented at Annual Conference SUBMITTED BY MTACDL & FDOM, WRITTEN BY ANDREA LAINE

The Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Federal Defenders of Montana presented awards for outstand ing achievement at their annual conference held at the Chico Hot Springs Resort on March 12 and 13, 2025. Three deserv ing lawyers were recognized with the Timer Moses Award, the Rookie of the Year Award, and the John Adams Award. The Timer Moses Award , recognizing excellence in criminal defense, was presented by MTACDL to Supervisory Assistant Federal Defender Steve Babcock.

on fire for his clients. His energy is infectious, and his passion is contagious. He is knowledgeable and approachable for those of us looking to learn. He has deserved this award for many years now and I really hope to see it make its way to him.” It did. Congratulations to 2025 Timer Moses Award winner Steve Babcock. The Rookie of the Year Award was presented to Ellen Boland Monroe. What Ellen achieved in 2024 is remarkable. She graduated from law school a semester early, took the bar in February, was sworn in to the bar in April, and tried a homicide case to an acquittal with Caitlin Boland Aarab in June. It was her first trial.

Steve Babcock with Assistant Federal Defender Gillian Gosch after winning the 2025 "Timer Moses" Award.

Steve is a second-generation lawyer who also came from a family of educators. He gave being a third-generation teacher a shot, but it only lasted one year. After that, it was on to law school and a career as a defense lawyer. From there, it’s been a story of one superb accomplishment after another. Steve received multiple nominations for this award. The nominations described him as someone who: “endeavors to be the most prepared lawyer in the courtroom and always is;” “accomplishes extraordinary things by doing ordinary everyday work exceptionally;” “is the kind of lawyer a person in trouble would seek to have by his side. He has judgment, guile, per suasive skills, and fortitude;” “If the case should plead, it does, and if it warrants a trial, it is guaranteed to be a good one;” “not only is an excellent advocate, but also does it in a way that he maintains the respect of everyone in the justice system.” Steve has gained renown as a great trial lawyer and has the unique distinction of having argued before the US Supreme Court. He is also the Supervisory Attorney in the Billings Division of the Federal Defenders of Montana. One of the attorneys in that office noted: “For someone with the zeal and skill Steve has always demonstrated in his advocacy, the humil ity with which he runs this office is impossible to articulate. He lowered his profile, he champions the accomplishments of oth ers over himself, and he never gives the impression that even the most mundane tasks of his supervisor position are beneath him. He has one of the toughest jobs of any criminal defense attorney in Montana and it has been an absolute privilege to work under him.” Finally, a different nominator stated: “I nominated Steve because of his lifetime of service to the profession. He is always

Ellen Boland Monroe with her exonerated client, and Caitlin Boland Aarab

That is one heck of a rookie season. More importantly though, Ellen demonstrated during that trial that she has all the qualities that make for a truly great criminal defense lawyer: empathy, humor, tenacity, and a healthy dose of righteous indignation. Ellen had two primary roles in the trial: one was the client manager, and one was to argue the evidentiary motions that were expected to crop up throughout the trial. Client manager was a really important role because the client was a 19-year-old girl who spent a year in custody awaiting her trial on the charge of accountability for deliberate homicide. And she didn’t do it. The client didn’t have parents, or older friends, or teachers in her corner. She just had her attorneys. Ellen would put a full day of work in at the office and then go straight to the jail where she would talk to the client about books and music and the bad poetry floating around the jail. She shopped for the client’s clothes before trial and laundered those clothes each night of the trial. Her humanity gained the client’s trust. Ellen also did great legal work. The defense was justifi able use of force. Prior to trial, the defense team moved in limine to admit text messages from the deceased’s phone sent minutes before her death stating that that “she wasn’t going down without a fight,” “it was going down in the park,” “she would end up dead or in prison,” and “it was nice knowing ya.” Consistent with justifiable use of force case law, the Court said “no” because the client was unaware of the texts. But Ellen

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