In a packed courtroom at the Gallatin County Law and Justice Center on Thursday, lawyers for a man charged with murder related to the death of Steven Kilwein asked a judge to lower the defendant’s bail amount.

Austin Clowes, 25, was arrested in July, more than four years after Kilwein, 79, was found dead in his home on North 9th Avenue in Bozeman on June 13, 2021. Bozeman Police alleged that Clowes’ phone was found in Kilwein’s yard during the investigation, and that DNA evidence connected him further to the scene.

Clowes, who has been in the Gallatin County Detention Center since his arrest, entered a not guilty plea during a court hearing last week. His bond was set at $1 million when he was arrested earlier this summer, but his defense attorneys asked Judge John Brown on Thursday to

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