Hays woman sentenced in Great Falls deadly assault case

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A Hays woman will serve prison time after admitting she took part in an assault that left a man with serious injuries and led to his death. 

Alta Rose Chandler, 24, received 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. She pleaded guilty in January 2026 to one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris handled the case.

Court documents said Fort Belknap law enforcement responded to a 911 call around 6:00 a.m. on September 30, 2023, and found the man unconscious and covered in blood on his kitchen floor.

Investigators said the man’s adult daughter, Heavenlee Drewann Sears, and Chandler had been driving around Fort Belknap while drinking peppermint schnapps after earlier consuming an 18-pack of beer. 

The documents said they later went to the man’s home and kept drinking with him in the kitchen.

According to the case, Sears hit the victim several times in the head with a glass bottle, causing him to fall. Prosecutors said Chandler then punched him in the head while he was on the floor, leaving bruising on her knuckles.

Paramedics took the victim to Fort Belknap Indian Health Services, where he was unresponsive and breathing unevenly. Court records said he had swelling and bruising on his face and ears, cuts to his nose and upper lip and bite marks on his forehead, wrist and chest.

The man died on December 11, 2023, from a traumatic brain injury. Sears was sentenced on March 11, 2026, to nearly two years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for her role in the assault.