Maximum Sentence in Westwolf Killing

I have written several blog posts about the hit-and-run-killing of Mika Westwolf by a white woman with apparent ties to white supremacy. For background on this story see the posts, Because It’s All Still Happening, and Request for Allyship.

It took 23 months for this case to come to the court, but finally, the family and the defendant had their day for sentencing Feb. 7, 2024. The article below is from the Missoulian, written by  Sam  Wilson/Nora Mabie, photos by Ben Allan Smith © Missoulian. 

I also commend this article from charkoosta.com which goes into more depthl of the family’s testimony, and the judge’s response. A complicated case. The raising of the defendant’s children at issue, and the ongoing trauma to the family and wider community–both Native and white.

Family members listen in court. © Ben Allan Smith, Missoulian.

Missoulian POLSON — A Butte woman was sentenced Friday to 10 years in the Montana State Women’s Prison for the vehicular homicide of Mika Westwolf, a young Native American woman who she killed in a hit-and-run crash while walking along the highway near Arlee last year.

After roughly four hours of testimony in the Lake County Courthouse, District Judge Molly Owen sentenced Sunny K. White, 29, to the maximum sentence allowed under a plea deal reached with state prosecutors in November. In exchange for guilty pleas to vehicular homicide while under the influence and for leaving the scene of the crash, prosecutors dropped three other felony charges.

Carissa Heavy Runner testifying in court. © Ben Allan Smith, Missoulian.

“I wouldn’t just let my daughter be forgotten,” Westwolf’s mother, Carissa Heavy Runner, told a crowd after the hearing. “We did what we came here to do today. … The only way we can be healed is to be seen and to be heard. To speak our truth, hear our truth. No one can tell it better than us.”

George Heavy Runner, Westwolf’s grandfather, called the ruling “a victory.”

“This is what we asked for,” he said of the decision. “To show that her life did matter.”

White cannot be paroled for all 10 years of her prison sentence, followed by a 20-year suspended sentence during which she will remain on parole. If she violates her release conditions during that time, she can be sent back to prison.

As Westwolf’s family testified throughout the hearing, Owen repeatedly asked if they supported the plea agreement, noting that if she went beyond those terms with her sentence, White’s lawyers could take the case to trial instead.

“I do believe that if I rejected the plea agreement, this would delay the case even further and I do believe that Mika’s family deserves some finality here,” Owen told the packed courtroom, adding that she “might have concerns with the length of the sentence.”

Grandfather testifying. © Ben Allan Smith, Missoulian.

Friday’s hearing ends what has been a nearly two-year journey for Westwolf’s family and friends, many of whom spoke critically of the plea deal and what they saw as a half-hearted initial investigation. White spent just seven days in jail on an initial charge of child endangerment, and homicide charges were not brought until seven months later.

A tearful White was remanded to the custody of the Lake County sheriff for transportation to the Montana State Women’s Prison at the conclusion of the hearing Friday afternoon.

“I know there are no words that I can speak to ease that pain and I wish there were,” White said at the end of the hearing, emotionally addressing Westwolf’s friends and family. “I will be living with the guilt of my actions in this terrible accident that took her life and I pray that someday you can find forgiveness for me.”

The sentencing hearing included statements from a dozen of Westwolf’s friends and family, followed by statements from a handful of White’s family and supporters.

“A precious limb has fallen from our family tree in the loss of our dear Mika,” Westwolf’s grandfather said. “It can never be put back to grow with us, and we’ll never be able to witness what was to be of the potential, had she lived.”

Several people mentioned White’s alleged white nationalist ties, citing the names of her children, Aryan and Nation.

“You hurt our hearts and our spirit,” said Thomas Combs, Westwolf’s cousin. “This might be painful for you, but you have no idea — your children are still alive.”

White’s sister, Hannah White, also took the stand to offer support for her sister and disputed the white supremacy narrative.

“There is a lot of false information out there with her and her children’s names,” Hannah White said, suggesting those were instead the views held by her children’s father. “She’s not racist; she’s not white supremacist.”

She also described her sister as “loving” and “compassionate,” telling the court that “being a mother is the job that she was meant to do, and I truly hope that she continues to get to do that.”

Kim Paul, Westwolf’s adopted grandmother, addressed White directly.

“Do you think yourself superior?” she asked. “Did you intentionally do this? We will never know. … Her family is owed justice and Mika is owed her dignity.”

Paul described Westwolf, who was Blackfeet, Navajo, Cree and Klamath, as a caring and smart woman who was dedicated to her community.

Photo of Mika, held in her mother’s hands.© Ben Allan Smith, Missoulian.

“Mika was going to be a wildlife biologist, or a botanist, or a veterinarian or a landscape architect, or something outside, and some valuable service-oriented career that would help us positively impact this world,” she said. “How do you measure that?”

Kevin Howard, Westwolf’s stepfather, condemned the criminal justice system.

“I don’t know of any white folks that have to go on marches and create a spectacle in order to receive justice,” he said, adding family members worked to investigate Westwolf’s death as they grieved.

Several of Westwolf’s family members also spoke of forgiveness for White, including her biological father Michael John Westwolf II.

“I forgive you with all my heart and pray for the Creator to do the same and show you that love is stronger than hate,” Westwolf II said, as White became emotional while seated next to her defense attorneys.

White also pleaded guilty to one felony count of for leaving the scene. Under the plea deal, prosecutors dismissed three other felonies: two counts of child endangerment and one count of criminal possession of dangerous drugs.

Members of Westwolf’s family and friends at times asked for the maximum sentence under law, and objected to the terms of the plea agreement.

Westwolf’s death in March 2023 drew national attention. Her family led a statewide campaign, with awareness walks, rallies and other events, calling for justice and awareness in her case as well as other cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

After the judge’s decision, Heavy Runner told a crowd outside the courthouse she would continue to advocate for justice in the cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

“We want to empower other families to not give up,” she said. “We can’t do it alone. We have to do this together. This is what Indigenous families are up against.”

Acknowledging the repeated allegations of White having a racist ideology, Owens noted during her sentencing that prosecutors had not charged the case as a hate crime.

At the hearing’s conclusion, Assistant Attorney General Thorin Geist said that Montana’s hate crime statutes require prosecutors to prove intent, and the state lacked sufficient evidence to do so.

“We have to prove that her motivation was the race of the individual, and I think it is a legal impossibility in a negligence case,” Geist said.

White’s two young children were reportedly in the car when their mother struck and killed Westwolf, according to the crash report and charging documents. White left the scene after hitting Westwolf in the early morning hours of March 31, 2023.

Evidence collected from the crash site indicated Westwolf was walking in the northbound lane of traffic when she was struck. She was hit head-on by the car’s passenger side, the case affidavit states. Westwolf died on scene from multiple blunt-force injuries.

Cell phone data put White’s location at the crash scene at exactly 3 a.m., according to the affidavit. A highway trooper discovered her body on the road at 4:15 a.m.

Authorities tracked down White, according to the crash report, and found her Cadillac Escalade in Polson roughly an hour later using a description of damage the vehicle sustained from the collision.

White told officers she was driving from Butte to Kalispell when the crash occurred, according to charging documents. She said she didn’t stop because she thought she had hit a deer, prosecutors alleged.

But according to the affidavit, investigators spoke with a witness who saw an SUV with a headlight out stopped along the side of the road that morning near the crash scene.

“He stated that the vehicle was on the side of the road facing north and noticed a headlight was out as he passed the vehicle while also traveling in a northbound direction,” the affidavit states. “Then the vehicle caught up to him and passed him traveling north going 90 miles per hour.”

Owens referenced that piece of evidence when she sentenced White.

“Even with this information, you continue to state that you thought you hit a deer,” she told White. “You killed someone, while under the influence, and you continue to deny your responsibility for that.”

Supporters and family hug outside courtroom. © Ben Allan Smith, Missoulian.

And so that part of the journey of justice is done. But as often happens, a passion for larger justice has been awakened in Mika’s mother, who vows to continue advocating for missing Indigenous people. You can follow her on MikaMatters.com and Facebook.

And now I ask myself: What is awakened in ME? What do I vow to continue advocating for? What am I willing to march for? Stand for? Risk for? More on that never-ending conversation soon. Right now a pause, a breath, an acknowledgment of the grief of this family and the roads they invite us to walk with them.