Helena man sentenced to 5 years in prison for rape conviction

Hash was convicted of the three charges in a bench trial in April.

County prosecutors first charged Hash in the alleged rape incidents in January 2025 after the victim reported he had sexually assaulted her 20-30 times starting in October 2024 through the day the allegations were reported to law enforcement at the end of December 2024.

The Independent Record is withholding details of the case in order to protect the victim's identity.

Prosecutor Mary Barry said the victim has continued to struggle since the trial and did not want to testify at Hash’s sentencing hearing Thursday. She said Hash repeatedly raped the victim and has never accepted responsibility for his actions, which left the victim “beyond repair.”

Barry asked Seeley to sentence Hash to 20 years in prison with no time suspended.

Several of Hash’s family members and others close to him testified and asked Seeley for leniency. They said Hash had been in the military, a combat medic, but was kicked out after he was charged just before he would have been able to retire and received full benefits. Since he was discharged, he has lost all of that, they said. His post-traumatic stress disorder from war led to drinking and poor decision-making, the family members said.

Hash’s defense attorney, Brent Flowers, said his client was “not proud of what happened” and realized what he did was wrong. But he also argued that there is a low likelihood of Hash committing such a crime again and noted Hash did not have a criminal history otherwise. Flowers asked Seeley to sentence Hash to community treatment or some sort of jail sentence.

“Coupled with him losing everything, that would be appropriate,” Flowers told Seeley.

Hash also addressed the court before he was sentenced and told Seeley he was sorry to his family, loved ones and the victim.

“At the end of the day, I am ashamed of the situation we’re in because of my actions,” he said.

Seeley told him he should be ashamed, saying his case was a serious sexual abuse case that involved manipulation and coercion.

“I don’t think he’s going to go dragging kids off the street. But this is a serious crime and has caused serious damage,” she said before handing down the sentence.

Another factor in his sentence is Hash will not be able to have contact with minors once he is released save for his child. He was taken into jail custody at the end of Thursday’s hearing.