Kalispell man convicted of rape in Gallatin County

A Kalispell man was recently convicted by a Gallatin County jury for raping a woman while she was drunk and unconscious.

According to a story in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, a jury found Shelby Ragner guilty of felony sexual intercourse without consent for an incident in 2019. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 4. He faces up to life or 20 years in prison.

In March 2019, a woman told police that Ragner sexually assaulted her after a night of drinking downtown with friends, according to the Chronicle story. The woman said she woke up on a couch to Ragner sexually assaulting her, court documents said. She then passed out.

The woman went to the hospital after her chest was bruised and her legs, arms and back hurt from the assault, court documents say. An exam showed that the woman’s injuries were consistent with non-consensual sexual activity.

Police said in charging documents that Ragner maintained that the woman consented to the sexual activity. He told police that he had moved back to Kalispell and had no intention of coming back to Bozeman.

When a detective confronted him about witness reports that the woman was too drunk to stand on her own and was unconscious, Ragner was unable to explain how he had a conversation with her, court documents say.