At trial, two more alleged victims say Montana youth hockey coach sexually assaulted them

Two additional boys told jurors Wednesday that Jami James sexually assaulted them when he was their youth hockey coach, describing the same acts that another boy testified about this week.

One boy said Wednesday that James sexually assaulted him on three occasions — once at James’ house in Columbia Falls, once in a nearby house James used for hockey camp gatherings and once on a boat during a camping trip at Hungry Horse Reservoir.

The other boy who testified Wednesday said he saw a newspaper story about James’ arrest for the allegations in February 2023 and told his parents a day or two later that James did the same thing to him.

Mothers of two of the alleged victims in the case also testified Wednesday, one saying she became close friends with James but it never became sexual. Her son testified Tuesday that James sexually assaulted him.

Defense attorney Scott Hilderman told jurors Tuesday that James had a sexual relationship with that mother but ended the affair after it became public because he was married, seemingly suggesting it as motivation to make false allegations against his client.

James went on trial Monday for allegedly raping the three boys in Butte and Flathead County between 2019 and early 2021. Prosecutors say the boys were 8 or 9 years old at the time and were participants in private hockey programs run by James.

James told police he never sexually abused children and could not think of a motive behind the accusations. But he has said he is biracial and told a detective after his arrest that he feels he is constantly attacked due to his race.

James, now 50, is charged with six counts of sexual intercourse without consent, a felony charge in Montana that usually involves alleged penetration by an object or body part.

James pleaded not guilty in April 2023 to two counts filed in Butte-Silver Bow County five days after he pleaded not guilty in Kalispell to four rape charges in Flathead County. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison.

The six counts were combined into one case that is being tried in Butte this week with District Judge Robert Whelan presiding.

Jury selection took all day Monday and Hilderman said Wednesday the trial could spill into next week.

Two of the alleged victims are now 13 years old and the other is 14.

The first boy testified Tuesday, saying James assaulted him once at a hotel in Butte, where a hockey camp was being held, and once at James' house in Flathead County.

He said there were other boys in the rooms at the time and when he tried to scream during the first incident, James covered his mouth and told him, "Shhh." He did scream the second time but James quickly covered his mouth, he said.

One of that boy's friends took the stand Wednesday and described the three sexual assaults he said he endured. They lasted 5 to 10 minutes, he said, and he cried during two of them. James covered his mouth both times, he said, but he did not cry during the alleged assault on the boat.

The boys said they told each other what happened to them months later but neither told anyone else until December 2022.

That's when one boy's mother said she pressed him for reasons he didn't want to attend another hockey camp run by James and her son told her what happened to him and his friend.

She said she called the other boy's mother, who then asked her son about it. When he told her what happened, she said she contacted police in Columbia Falls immediately.

When asked by defense counsel Wednesday, the second boy said he told his father about the first assault shortly after it happened but he didn't believe him.

He didn't tell his mother about the assaults until more than two years later, the boy acknowledged, and, "I think my dad just kept it to himself"

Defense counsel has repeatedly said that two of the boys are close friends, as are their mothers, but prosecutors say the third boy and his family had no connections to them.

That boy said James held him down on a bed in a hotel room and assaulted him.

Prosecutors showed the jury a rough sketch of the hotel room the boy had drawn during a forensic interview. It showed two stick figures together on one bed and the boy told jurors they represented him and James.

That boy's father testified Wednesday that he picked up his son from school one day and there was a newspaper on his truck seat with a story about James' arrest in February 2023. It included a photo of James.

He said his son started reading it and began asking questions about sexual assault, thinking it was something between males and females.

"I had to explain to him that sexual assault sometimes occurs between men and boys," the father said.

When his son told him what happened a day or so later, saying he hadn't thought about the incident in a long time, "it was like a gut punch," the father said.

Defense attorneys noted again Wednesday that more than two years went by before the first two boys disclosed the incidents to parents.

They also pointed out that other boys were either in the rooms where the alleged assaults occurred or just outside those rooms, suggesting it was implausible they didn't wake up to see or hear something.

Prosectors Kelli Fivey and Stephanie Robles have yet to rest their case. When they do, Hilderman and fellow defense attorney Lane Bennett can present their own case and witnesses.