Jury finds Lame Deer man guilty of assault and attempted witness tampering

BILLINGS - A Lame Deer man who assaulted a woman with a metal bar as she and her companion walked in front of his house last fall was found guilty by a federal jury today, Acting U.S. Attorney Mark Steger Smith said.

Following a three-day trial, Seth Anthony Basler, 41, was found guilty of one count of assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of attempted witness tampering. Basler faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided and will determine a sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Sentencing is set for Nov. 24, 2026. Basler was detained pending further proceedings.

The government alleged in court documents and at trial that Basler assaulted a woman as she and her companion walked by his house on the way to pick up their children after school on Sept. 17, 2025. The women were walking with their dog, and as they passed Basler's yard, they stopped to pet one of Basler's dogs that had come over to where they were walking.

Basler yelled from his house at the women to get away from his dogs and, as the women responded, he charged at one of them with a metal bar in his hands. He struck the woman on the head, cutting her scalp, and then struck her on the back when she fell to the ground. At some point he dropped the bar and began to punch her. The woman said she lost consciousness for a moment and then, as she came to, crawled over to Basler to grab his legs as he attacked her companion.

The two managed to get away from Basler, who said he was defending himself and his dogs from the two women when they came onto his property. Shortly after the assault, the two women returned to retrieve their phone, which had fallen to the ground during the attack. When they tried, Basler's wife, who was now in the yard, refused to let them pick it up. The woman who had initially been struck by Basler was hit by him again, this time on the arm, when she tried to grab the phone from the ground.

When police arrived, the woman was taken to Lame Deer Clinic with injuries to her head, back and arm; Basler was arrested. While in jail, Basler called his wife multiple times and told her to exaggerate the severity of her injuries from the confrontation and to falsely state that she was outside when the fight began. He also told his wife to falsely say she was attacked by the woman he had struck with the bar and to say that he then intervened in an effort to protect his wife.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacob Yerger and Julia Patten prosecuted the case. The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the BIA.