The major takeaways from week 1 of the Sen. Jason Ellsworth criminal trial 

The first week of a criminal trial involving alleged misuse of government funds by an elected official wrapped up Friday evening at the Lewis and Clark County District Court in Helena. 

Hamilton Republican state Sen. Jason Ellsworth was charged by the Montana Department of Justice with official misconduct, a misdemeanor, late last year. The state accuses Ellsworth of leveraging his role as a senator to gain an advantage for himself or someone else beyond what the law allows when he attempted to steer a state contract funded by public dollars to a longtime friend. Ellsworth has pleaded not guilty.

In the closing days of 2024, Ellsworth tried to enter into a contract with his friend’s company — which had been formed only weeks earlier — using $170,100 in state money that Ellsworth had discretion over as a member of legislative leadership. Ellsworth did not follow the public bidding process typically required of publicly funded contracts for that amount. 

The Montana State News Bureau first reported the existence of the contract. 

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The funding for the contract was left over from a special legislative committee on judicial reform that Ellsworth chaired. During a November 2024 meeting of that group, Ellsworth floated the idea of hiring someone to track the committee’s bills throughout the session and beyond, and made a motion to that effect. Two other Republicans dismissed the idea, suggesting that the Legislature already has staff that do that work. Ellsworth ultimately withdrew the motion. 

A slow start to the case and some technical stretches were punctuated by several factual revelations and a failed request for a mistrial. 

During Friday testimony, a witness for the prosecution, Department of Administration Director Misty Ann Giles, said that when Ellsworth called her about the contract documents in December 2024, he told her the legislative committee had approved the hiring. Giles said she learned that was not the case in news articles, and that she would have done more “due diligence” had she known that wasn’t true. 

The Department of Administration handles most legislative contracts that exceed $100,000, per state rules.

Giles testified that when she first received the documents via email in late December 2024, they had been signed, so she believed they were in effect. She said the documents were missing key language that state contracts are required to include, so she worked with her staff to add the missing clauses. 

She described the process of rectifying the contract as “putting lipstick on a pig.” 

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Another witness for the prosecution, lobbyist Scott Boulanger, who rented a room to Ellsworth during the 2025 legislative session, explained that in early January, when the contracts had already been executed, Ellsworth requested that Boulanger write a bid estimate for the work Ellsworth had already contracted with his friend. Boulanger told the courtroom he did not know at the time that the contracts had already been signed off on, and that Ellsworth asked him to backdate the bid to November 2024.

“I was just helping a friend,” Boulanger testified Wednesday. “I didn’t know even what it was for.”

When first asked by reporters about the contracts in January 2025, Ellsworth relied on Boulanger’s written estimate to say that he had solicited bids. Boulanger’s testimony Friday undermined that claim.  

At one point on Friday, the defense motioned for a mistrial after alleging that one of the state’s lead prosecutors, Dan Guzynski, had mentioned an element of the judicial reform committee’s work that the judge had ordered not be introduced. After reviewing the transcript and hearing from counsel on both sides, Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Christopher Abbott denied the request.

Ellsworth’s attorneys, Martin Judnich and Joan Mell, have largely tried to show the jury that a slew of staff from different branches of state government were involved in editing and effectuating the contract. They have claimed that as Senate president at the time, Ellsworth was not responsible for ensuring adherence to proper procurement procedures.

The prosecution has used the witnesses — nearly all of whom have been state employees — to demonstrate that the contracting process was “uncommon” and “concerning” to many of them. The defense also had two witnesses, including the governor’s Budget Director Ryan Osmundson, testify that the Legislature already has staff that does the work Ellsworth tried to contract out. 

Osmundson testified Friday that he knew Ellsworth was steering work to a friend, but encouraged him to use existing staff. Osmundson, like Giles, testified that he did not learn Ellsworth had gone through with the contract until he read about it in news reports. 

The trial will resume Monday, and is predicted by attorneys from both sides to conclude on Tuesday. The defense will call their witnesses next week. 

If convicted, Ellsworth could be fined as much as $500 and sentenced to up to six months in jail. Ellsworth lost his most recent election, and his current Senate term is set to end in early January.