Billings man gets 80 years for fatal shooting

BILLINGS – A Billings man has been sentenced to 80 years in prison for shooting another man to death during an argument in April.

The Billings Gazette reported that 33-year-old Joseph Richard Polak II was convicted of deliberate homicide in November and was sentenced on Tuesday in the death of 29-year-old Scott Marshall Hofferber.

According to court records, Polak and Hofferber had planned to fight each other, but as Hofferber handed Polak a nail puller, Polak pulled out a gun and shot Hofferber in the chest.

Polak’s attorneys argued their client was acting in self-defense.

He was also convicted of tampering with evidence and criminal endangerment for Polak disposed of the handgun and resisting officers during his arrest.