A second man is facing homicide charges in connection with a weekend homicide in a Ballantine motel room.
Charlie Reimers, 29, didn't pull the trigger of the gun that killed Carl Archer Jr., 53, but Yellowstone County prosecutors charged him Tuesday with deliberate homicide by accountability for his role in the apparent drug deal gone bad. His bail was set at $200,000.
The man who prosecutors say did shoot Archer, James Reese Eder, was also charged Tuesday. He faces up to life in prison for deliberate homicide. His bail was $500,000.
Both made their first appearance in Yellowstone County Justice Court Tuesday afternoon.
Prosecutors said video surveillance showed Eder approach the Tiger Town Motel in Ballantine with a rifle in hand around 3 a.m. Saturday. Two women told police that they were in a room with Archer to buy meth.
They heard a knock on the door, and Archer told the women not to answer it. The door opened, and Eder walked in with his gun raised, according to prosecutors.
Archer, who wasn't wearing pants, got off the bed and approached Eder, and the witness said she heard the gun go off. Archer was later found dead with a gunshot wound to the head.
Around 4 a.m., authorities received a call from two people on Highway 312 between Billings Huntley who said Reimers was looking for a place to stash his van, prosecutors said.
The two said they saw another man in the van and kicked Reimers off their property. They directed deputies to a Lockwood residence, where they said Reimers could likely be found.
Deputies found Reimers at that address and arrested him.
They then found a Billings address for Eder in local records and arrested him there. A woman at the residence told deputies that Eder arrived home around 2 p.m. Sunday.
Eder told her that he had been in Ballantine the previous night and planned to rob someone, but things went south and he "blew a guy's head off with a shotgun," according to prosecutors.
Investigators found a shotgun in the backyard they believe was used in the shooting.
