3 charged in home invasion plead not guilty

By The Associated Press - 10/02/2008

BILLINGS (AP) — Three of four defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges related to a home invasion robbery that netted an empty safe and left the homeowner critically injured.

Joshua Schied and Braden Heafner, both 22, and Tasha Rainey, 18, appeared by video Thursday before District Judge Susan Watters.

A fourth defendant, Harley Moullet, 25, agreed to reschedule his arraignment for Monday because his court-appointed attorney was unavailable.

Prosecutors allege Schied and Moullet confronted 47-year-old Jaime Ketcham at his home on Sept. 11, sprayed him with mace and beat him with a baseball bat.

Rainey is accused of giving the men a map of the house and the mace while Heafner is accused of driving Schied and Moullet to and from Ketcham's house.

Schied is charged with aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and tampering. He is also accused of violating his probation in a previous felony case and is jailed on $175,000 bail.

The remaining three are charged with aggravated burglary by accountability, aggravated assault by accountability and tampering. Bail for Heafner and Rainey was set at $50,000.

Ketcham remains hospitalized in critical condition. A prosecutor said he "probably will never recover."