Barkus Boat Crash: Will Rehberg be Called as a Witness?

After being charged with three felonies for crashing his boat into the rocky shore of Wayfarers State Park on Aug. 27, which injured him, his wife, Congressman Denny Rehberg and two of his staffers, Kalispell Sen. Greg Barkus’ attorney sent out a statement disputing allegations that his client was drunk at the time of the accident. Prosecutors allege that a blood alcohol test showed Barkus had a BAC of .16, or twice the legal limit. But attorney Todd Glazier said in a prepared statement that he has witnesses that will testify that Barkus wasn’t impaired.

“We have several witnesses that will testify that Mr. Barkus was not impaired at the time of the accident. In fact, the dinner receipt will show that Mr. Barkus did not consume enough alcohol to be impaired when he left the restaurant shortly before the accident, nor was there any alcohol aboard the boat.”

James Conner, over at Flathead Memo, then asks the obvious question: “Will Dennis Rehberg be one of those witnesses?”

For his part, Rehberg has said he was “surprised” by the blood alcohol test results and reiterated that Barkus didn’t “appear to be impaired” when he boarded his boat the night of the crash.

If this case does go to trial (which is by no means a sure thing), you would have to assume there’s a good chance the congressman will be there.