Man charged in boy's drowning can't go to funeral

HELENA — A man charged with negligent homicide in his son's drowning last week cannot travel to Washington state to attend the 3-year-old's funeral, a Lewis and Clark County judge has ruled.

Justice of the Peace Michael Swingley made his ruling after a hearing Wednesday in which County Attorney Leo Gallagher argued Leo Eugene Mathis, 26, had no ties to Helena other than the criminal charges filed after his son, Leo Eugene Mathis Jr., drowned in Prickly Pear Creek in East Helena on June 22. Mathis had just moved to the area a week earlier.

Gallagher also pointed out that Mathis was jailed...