Montana Board Denies Parole for Man Connected to 2006 Murder

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Montana's Board of Pardons and Parole has decided a man charged in connection to a 2006 murder will remain in jail for at least six more years.

John Lebrum, a one-time football player at Montana State University, pleaded guilty to robbery and received a 40-year sentence in 2008. Another man, Branden Miller, separately pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide and received a 125-year sentence.

At a hearing before the board on Thursday, Lebrum said Miller alone shot 26-year-old Jason Wright in a field west of Bozeman. Miller, though, has claimed that Lebrum killed Wright.

According to The Bozeman Daily Chronicle , the investigation eventually uncovered a cocaine distribution ring that led to convictions against six football players and the head football coach's firing.

Wright's family and prosecutors opposed Lebrum's release.