‘My mom’s life mattered’: Judge rejects plea deal, sentences Christopher Wardle to four years with two suspended

Sorenson was killed in February 2023 after she was struck by a vehicle in Park County, a death that remains under separate investigation and had no bearing on the charges Wardle faced in Gallatin County on Friday.

He was in court for two separate cases. The first, filed in 2022, stemmed from his relationship with Sorenson and originally included six charges, among them felony strangulation of a partner and two felony counts of witness tampering, after prosecutors say he assaulted her and interfered with her ability to report it. The second, filed in 2024, charged him with felony stalking after he allegedly violated a protective order involving a different woman, Jessica Zimmermann.

Wardle pleaded guilty in June, under a deal reached with prosecutors in May, to one felony count of tampering with witnesses or informants from the 2022 case and one misdemeanor count of violating a protective order, a reduced version of the 2024 stalking charge. Under the agreement, prosecutors recommended a suspended sentence on both counts, along with probation, court costs and no contact with Sorenson's family and Zimmermann.

After hearing victim impact statements from Zimmermann and two of Sorenson's daughters, Judge Andrew Breuner acknowledged Wardle's only prior criminal charge was a DUI in 1990, and recognized that Wardle had a difficult upbringing and has expressed remorse for his treatment of Sorenson. But Breuner said that contrition about failing to "disengage" from fights with Sorenson is called into question by Wardle's efforts to manipulate the statement she gave to police.

“The conduct, in the court’s view, of Mr. Wardle demonstrates a willingness to manipulate outcomes and an insistence on being in control,” Breuner said.

Breuner also acknowledged that the charge of tampering that Wardle was being sentenced for is not classified as a violent offense. But he said the underlying conduct behind the charges dropped in the plea deal still factored into his sentencing calculus.

“Ms. Sorenson is reported as a victim of strangulation,” Breuner said. “In the court’s view, that makes the tampering conduct more serious. In fact it makes it very serious.”

The misdemeanor charge tied to the Zimmermann case carried its own weight, Breuner said, given when the violation occurred.

“Deeply disturbing to the court is that the violation of the order of protection occurred at a time when Mr. Wardle was already under conditional release order,” Breuner said. “In this court’s view that demonstrates Mr. Wardle’s will to not follow the rules as he sees fit to not follow the rules.”

After a long pause and a sip of water, Breuner announced Wardle's sentence: four years with the Department of Corrections, two of them suspended, and 169 days, time served, on the misdemeanor charge. He denied a request from Wardle's attorney for a 24- to 48-hour window for Wardle to self-surrender, ordering him remanded immediately to the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office, where he'll be held while the DOC determines where he'll serve his time, whether behind bars or on probation.

Acknowledging that the sentence exceeds what both the state and Wardle's attorney had recommended under the plea agreement, Breuner said the "unique, aggravating circumstances" of the case gave the court sufficient grounds to use its discretion.

Before the sentence was handed down, Sarah and Hannah Baker, two of Sorenson’s daughters, asked the court to reject the recommended sentence of probation with no jail time. While understanding that Wardle was not being sentenced for killing her mother, Sarah Baker emphasized that the witness tampering goes beyond a technical violation and directly impacts the ability of a victim or witness to seek help and get justice.

“Our family experienced what it was like to worry about my mother,” Sarah Baker said. “We experienced the helplessness of watching someone we love become increasingly isolated. We experienced the frustration of wanting to help someone we love while knowing there were things that we could not control. That is the impact I ask the court not to overlook.”

Both daughters described their mother as intelligent, musically gifted, and a nurturing and loving presence to her children, grandchildren and the students she taught at St. Mary Catholic School in Livingston. They spoke of happy memories with her, many centered on cherished holidays and family traditions, which they said grew strained after she met and married Wardle.

“During the years involved in this case our family watched pieces of that woman disappear,” Sarah Baker said. “As her daughter, it was incredibly painful to watch.”

Sorenson’s youngest daughter, Hannah Baker, was 23 years old when Sorenson died. On that day, knowing that she has a life ahead of her full of memories and milestones that she’ll have to live without her mother, Hannah Baker said she felt like a part of herself died, too. It’s a wound that she acknowledged will not be fully healed in the courtroom.

“A maximum sentence won’t fix any of the damage that has been done, and it won’t bring my mom back,” Hannah Baker said. “But it might provide a measure of justice that shows the human life matters. My mom’s life mattered.”

As supporters of the family drifted into the hallway after the sentencing was handed down, exchanging somber hugs and words of support, Sarah Baker said that she and her family were unable to provide further comment.

The other victim in the case, Jessica Zimmermann, told the Chronicle that although the plea deal's recommendation initially left her uneasy, she found Breuner's ultimate sentence fair.

“I think he really took everybody into account,” Zimmerman said. “Justice was served, to some extent, today.”

According to the permanent order of protection Zimmerman was granted from Wardle, he subjected her to daily harassment, bullying, threats, defamation and stalking, including creating what court documents describe as a "smear site" targeting her dog rescue business.

“The greatest thing Mr. Wardle has taken from me is not my time or my reputation, it’s my peace,” Zimmermann said on the stand. “My home no longer feels safe, driving no longer feels ordinary. Even moments of happiness are interrupted by the thought that another incident may be just around the corner.”

That lingering sense of dread, Zimmermann said, is what sustained stalking does to its victims. While she expressed some relief that the court didn't follow the plea deal's recommendation, she said that impact doesn't simply go away.

“It’ll always be in the back of your mind, until he is no longer on this earth we’ll always be in danger,” Zimmermann said after the proceedings. “It’s a weight off our shoulders, but by the same token, it’s definitely not the be all end all.”