Ralph Kelly Gallineaux, Sr. of Browning was sentenced in federal court in Great Falls on Wednesday to more than four years in prison.
Gallineaux, 42 years old, was sentenced after admitting to strangling and assaulting a woman in two attacks on the Blackfeet Reservation, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Gallineaux pleaded guilty in June to charges of strangulation of a dating partner and to assault resulting in substantial bodily injury.
Prosecutors said in court records that Gallineaux strangled the victim, a dating partner, on April 8 after the two bought alcohol and drove to Durham to drink. On the drive back to Browning, they began arguing.
Court documents state that when they got to Gallineaux’s house, he made her go into the house where he proceeded to assault her over a three hour period. She said Gallineaux pinned her down to the bed and choked her and that she was fighting for her life.
When the assault ended, Gallineaux told the victim to leave his house while holding a lit blow-torch. Gallineaux let the blow-torch go out and threw it outside. Law enforcement officers recovered the blow-torch in the victim’s truck, which Gallineaux burned.
The victim ran to the hospital and reported the assault. Pictures from the hospital show abrasions to both arms (the medical notes indicate this is likely where she was held down to the ground), bruises and scratches on her back and bruising to her left side of her neck. Additionally, both ears appeared damaged and there was bruising as well as marks at the nape of Jane Doe’s neck and in the hairline above her left ear.
The victim also told officers that Gallineaux had assaulted her in July 2018, when he punched her multiple times in the face and broke her nose. The victim had called 911 and went to the IHS Hospital in Browning.
He was sentenced to 51 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided at the sentencing, and also ordered $6,817 restitution for the victim’s burned truck.