Jurors began deliberating Monday in the case of a 42-year-old Basin man charged in last year's killing of 35-year-old Dustin Kjersem of Bozeman.

Daren Christopher Abbey faces charges of deliberate homicide and evidence tampering. He is accused of killing Kjersem with an ax and screwdriver at a campsite near Big Sky and trying to conceal evidence.

Abbey’s attorneys allege he acted in self-defense, contending he began to fight Kjersem after the latter pointed a .44 magnum at his head, threatened to kill him and his dog, and hit him in the head with the gun.

The two men, both in the construction business, reportedly didn’t know one another until they met by chance at Kjersem’s campsite off Moose Creek Road and spent the evening drinking on Oct. 10, 2024.

Abbey was confirmed to have a head

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