Illegal immigrant in Montana pleads guilty to fatal 2022 stabbing, now faces 40 years in prison

An illegal immigrant in Montana faces up to 40 years in prison after recently pleading guilty to a fatal 2022 stabbing, according to the state's Justice Department. 

The immigrant, Francisco Padilla Canales, pleased guilty on Dec. 12, the department said Thursday.

Sentencing is set for March 18.

Canales initially pled not guilty and faced charges including deliberate homicide, aggravated kidnapping, tampering with witnesses and information, and aggravated burglary.

The victim was in a relationship with Canales’ estranged wife, according to the office of Attorney General Austin Knudsen.

The office said Canales tracking his estranged wife with a GPS device planted on her car, discovering that she and the victim and were in a relationship, then attacked the pair, stabbing the victim multiple times in the chest.

Canales reportedly attempted CPR.

The office also said Canales coerced his estranged wife into supporting his original statement to city of Bozeman police officers that he had not been responsible for the stabbing, before making a full confession and that officers found in Canales' vehicle three handguns, two rifles and a shotgun that he was "not legally allowed to possess."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained Canales. If paroled, the attorney general’s office say,s he would likely be deported and prevented from receiving legal immigration status in the future.