Montana Road Rage: Billings Man Earns Federal Prison Time For Brandishing Firearm During Traffic Confrontation

The Attorney for the District of Montana recently sentenced a man for firearm possession and involvement in road rage at a traffic stop. The accused was given federal imprisonment for his actions.

As per court documents, the incident dates back to January 17, 2025. The suspect not only threatened the driver of the fellow vehicle with a gun but was also in possession of the firearm despite being prohibited from doing so under a protection order.

Acting attorney Tim Racicot sentenced 41-year-old Matthew David Slemmer to 18 months of imprisonment on April 7, 2026. This would be followed by a rigorous three-year-long supervised release, as confirmed in an official statement by the Justice Department’s press brief.

The case had been prosecuted by Attorney Zeno Baucus. On the other hand, joint efforts by the ATF and the Billings Police Department carried out the investigation of the road rage incident.

It was in October 2025 when Slemmer pleaded guilty to one count of prohibited possession of a firearm. The government alleged that the accused had a heated altercation with a fellow driver at a parking stop.

While the two parties initially moved away after the exchange on the road, it was Slemmer who then drove into a parking lot, brandished a gun to threaten the other driver and then fled the scene.

It was the threatened individual who called 911 and reported the incident. When cops arrived at the parking lot, the accused returned to the scene and tried giving his version of the incident. In his statement, Slemmer admitted that he had a pistol in his car but denied brandishing it in order to threaten the other person.

During the course of the preliminary exchange, the suspect then consented to the deputies searching his car. It was then that the officers pried out a Hi-Point Firearms, Model C9 9mm semi-automatic pistol.

The court documents further reveal that Slemmer had already been under a Temporary Order since March 2024, which was decreed in his presence. It legally prohibited him from being in possession of any firearm. It also barred him from threatening or committing acts of violence.

For the unversed, Temporary gun prohibition orders have been quite prevalent across the United States. Popularized as a ‘red flag law’, it usually allows a state court to order the temporary seizure of firearms from a person whom they believe to be dangerous. If an individual refuses to comply with the prohibition, the act would be marked as a criminal offense.

An excerpt from the official statement remarked, “The order says Slemmer shall not “threaten to commit or commit acts of violence” or “not harass, annoy, disturb” or otherwise communicate with the petitioner, who had a child and an ongoing intimate relationship with him. The permanent order also prohibited Slemmer from possessing firearms.

Slemmer was also refused permission to contact the petitioner, who had a child and an ongoing intimate relationship with him. The prohibition was levied on him permanently after a second hearing. Thus, now that he violated the existing Temporary Order, the accused ended up getting federal prison time.