Woman Gets 20 Years For Sex At Machete-Point

OCTOBER 31--A Montana woman who forced her ex-boyfriend to have sex at machete-point has been sentenced to 20 years in state custody, court records show.

A District Court judge Tuesday sentenced Samantha Mears, 20, in connection with her arrest last year for breaking into the victim’s Great Falls home and sexually assaulting him.

Pictured at right, Mears was committed to the custody of Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services for placement in a mental health facility. Her 20-year sentence was the maximum penalty allowed for the sex attack.

Mears’s case was placed on hold shortly after her June 2018 arrest when doctors hired by prosecutors and defense counsel concurred that she was, at the time, not fit for trial.

Following treatment at the Montana State Hospital, Mears was judged stable enough for her case to proceed, though a sentencing order notes that she "suffers from a mental disease or defect."

In addition to the custodial sentence, Mears was designated a Tier II sex offender and will have to undergo counseling and treatment. Mears was sentenced for sexual intercourse without consent, a felony.

According to police and court records, Mears entered the victim’s home while he was out running an errand. Upon the man’s return, Mears emerged from behind a bedroom door and “came up behind him and placed a machete under his throat.” She then directed her ex to “get on the bed and remove his clothes.”

After taking off her pants, Mears climbed atop the victim and initiated sexual contact. The man told cops that Mears--who was holding the machete--bit him on the arm and “continued to have sex with him after he attempted to end” the encounter. The man added that, after ejaculating, he sought to "push Mears off of him to end the intercourse,” but she “continued to have sex with him until he was no longer erect.”

The man eventually fled the residence and called 911.

During questioning, Mears claimed to have had “consensual intercourse” with the victim, a cop noted, but she “was not making much sense and would often ramble on in her answers with information that did not even pertain to my questions.”

Two months before the sex assault, Mears was arrested for allegedly strangling her boyfriend. As a condition of her release from custody, Mears was ordered to have no contact with the victim and was prohibited from possessing any weapons. (4 pages)