A Browning Man is Sent to Jail for More Than Four Years for Assault and Strangulation of Partner

GREAT FALLS — Today, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said that a man from Browning who admitted to seriously hurting and strangling a dating partner was given a sentence of four years and two months in jail, followed by three years of supervised release.

The defendant, Emerson John No Runner Jr., 48, pleaded guilty in February to assault with a major injury and assault of a dating partner by suffocation and strangulation after being attacked.

The case was led by Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris.

Lawyers for the government said in court papers that No Runner and his lover at the time, Jane Doe, had been drinking together and sleeping at a family member’s trailer in Browning, on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, in March 2022. They were by themselves when No Runner began to argue with Jane Doe about what he thought was cheating. No Runner got on the cot and sat on top of Jane Doe. He put his hands around her neck and pressed down on her. Jane Doe passed out and woke up in a big pool of blood. Something else Jane Doe found in her hair was pieces of wood. Police took away a piece of wood that looked like it had blood and hair on it. Jane Doe got hurt in the head and her neck got bruised. In a December 2023 Facebook post to Jane Doe, No Runner talked about the attack and said, “The plan was to kill you that day should of, so bye bitch.”

The case was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The study was led by the FBI and the Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services.