Lyndsee C. Brewer (left) and defense attorney Michael Haase appear at a plea hearing on Monday morning. Brewer pleaded not guilty to the charge of homicide.
Lyndsee C. Brewer (left) and defense attorney Michael Haase appear at a plea hearing on Monday morning. Brewer pleaded not guilty to the charge of homicide.
Lyndsee Colette Brewer faced a superior court judge for the second time after being accused of shooting and killing Christopher A. Wetzstein in January 2022. Brewer appeared for a bail hearing on Thursday and on Monday appeared for a plea hearing. Brewer pleaded not guilty to the charge.
In setting a trial date, Brewer waived her right to a speedy trial to give her attorneys, Hailey Forcella and Michael Haase, additional time to prepare their case. The waiver allowed the trial date to be set any time before Dec. 30, 2022.
When asked how long the trial might take, both prosecutors and defense attorneys stated the trial could go into a second week.
Judge Katherine Bidegaray set the trial for Dec. 9-16 with jury selection scheduled for Friday, Dec. 9.
Sidney police investigators arrested Brewer and charged her with the murder of Christoper A. Wetzstein on Tuesday, April 26, 2022 in Miles City, Montana. She has been charged with one count of deliberate homicide, a felony as per Montana Code Annotated 45-5-102.
The arrest warrant was issued on Feb. 22, 2022 but officers were not able to execute the warrant until April 26, 2022 due to the fact Brewer had been admitted to a hospital for life-threatening conditions and remained in a hospital until the day she was arrested.
Bail was set at $500,000 and a hearing took place on Wednesday, April 27, 2022 where the public defender, Hailey Forcella, asked Judge Bidagary to reduce bail due to health concerns as well as the defendant’s ability to meet the bail amount.
The prosecution stated that the current $500,000 bail was lower than what was typical for a deliberate homicide case and asked that the bail remain at that level, along with monitoring should Brewer be released on bail.
Judge Bidegary agreed with the prosecution that the current bail was lower than typical and ruled the amount would remain at $500,000 with monitoring if released.
Brewer, who was identified early in the investigation as a person of interest, was a long-time friend and business associate of Wetzstein’s, who also matched the general description of a suspicious person seen on surveillance video from Wetzstein’s apartment building.
Investigators from the Sidney Police Department and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation executed numerous search warrants during this investigation, including at Brewer’s Forsyth, Montana home. During the search of Brewer’s home, a 9mm handgun was found that the state crime lab later determined fired the fatal bullet recovered at the scene of Wetzstein’s death.
Court documents show that the state alleges that Brewer purposely and knowingly caused the death of Wetzstein by shooting him in the head with a handgun. If convicted, Brewer faces the possibility of a sentence of 10-100 years.
