A 21-year-old Polson man accused of shooting his father to death in woods west of Kalispell pleaded not guilty Thursday to deliberate homicide.
Ross Johnson entered his plea in Flathead County District Court by video feed from the state hospital in Warm Springs. Experts determined last month that Johnson, who in the past has suffered serious head injuries, was fit to stand trial.
He was arrested in September 2008 after a two-day standoff at his family’s home outside Polson. Investigators say he fled there after shooting his father, 47-year-old Roger Johnson, on Aug. 30, 2008, in the woods about 45 miles west of Kalispell.
The father and son reportedly had left the rest of the family, who were camping at a cabin near the U.S. Forest Service’s Bend Guard Station, to go gopher hunting. The elder Johnson was found by passers-by with a single shotgun blast to the head.