Hunter Grizz Gallagher, 24, was sentenced in the Delta County 47th Circuit Court Monday. (Sophie Vogelmann | Daily Press)

ESCANABA – A Gladstone man was sentenced to decades in prison after pleading guilty to kidnapping and assault charges stemming from an April 2025 incident in Delta County.

Hunter Grizz Gallagher, 24, appeared Monday in the Delta County 47th Circuit Court before Judge John Economopoulos. Defense attorney Diane Kay-Hougaboom, Delta County Prosecutor Lauren Wickman and Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) Agent James Quinn were also present.

On the kidnapping conviction, Gallagher was sentenced to the MDOC for a period of 375 months, or 31 years and 3 months, to 80 years, with credit for 318 days served in jail as well as a fee.

On the charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder by strangulation, he was sentenced to the MDOC for a period of 76 months to 10 years, with credit for 318 days served in jail as well as a fee.

Gallagher was additionally sentenced on the charge of assault with a dangerous weapon or felonious assault offense to the MDOC for a period of 29 months to four years, with credit for 318 days served in jail as well as a fee. He also received a sentence of two years, with credit for 318 days served in jail and a fee for a felony firearm offense.

In addition to the prison terms, Gallagher must not have verbal, written, electronic or physical contact with the victim or her family, either directly or through another person. He also cannot be within 500 feet of the victim’s residence, school or place of employment.

In October 2025, Gallagher pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including kidnapping, punishable by life or any term of years in prison; assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder by strangulation, punishable by up to 10 years; assault with a dangerous weapon, punishable by up to four years; and weapons felony firearm, two years consecutively with and preceding any term of imprisonment imposed for the felony or attempted felony conviction, with the mandatory forfeiture of weapon or device. Charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct as well as one count of police officer-fleeing-third degree from a separate case were dropped.

The charges stem from an incident that occurred on April 6, 2025, when Gallagher restrained, kidnapped and sexually assaulted a victim in Delta County. While the criminal sexual conduct charge was dropped, it was reported that Gallagher had sexual contact with the victim over the course of a 24-hour period.

According to Economopoulos’ recounting of the events Monday, the victim was contacted repeatedly by Gallagher around 1:30 a.m. to “hang out.” Because they shared a one-year-old child, who was with Gallagher at the time, she agreed to meet at Pat’s Foods in Gladstone.

Upon meeting, Gallagher grabbed the victim’s keys and bit her hand. He then pulled the victim out of her car and told her to get into his truck where the child was located. Gallagher drove away, took the victim’s phone and threw it out of the vehicle’s window.

Gallagher then took the victim and their daughter to a dead-end road, told the victim to get out of the truck and he had a gun.

The victim was told to “say goodbye to [their daughter], at which point she began pleading for her life. After she exited the truck, she was taken to a field where she was kneeled onto the ground and a gun was put to her head “execution-style.” He also choked the victim.

Gallagher then fired a round from his gun about an inch from the victim’s head towards the truck where the infant daughter was located.

Economopoulos stated, “He told her, ‘I will kill you, our daughter, your kids, your dad and take myself out,” said Economopoulos.

Gallagher then told the victim to get back out of the truck and to walk from the truck and down the road three times. He put his gun to her head multiple times.

“One time, [the victim] fell to the ground. Mr. Gallagher told her, ‘I’m not dragging your f—ing dead body into the woods.”

Gallagher took the victim and their daughter back to his residence at about 7 a.m. where he sexually assaulted the victim.

“Contact was eventually made with Mr. Gallagher’s mother, who arrived at [his] house. [The victim] was afraid – she was crying. She wanted to speak but was afraid because of Mr. Gallagher possessing a firearm. So she tried to suggest that things were not going well to Mr. Gallagher’s mother.”

According to Economopoulos, the victim managed to speak with Gallagher’s mother alone and explain the situation.

“She told her that Mr. Gallagher had put a gun to her head the prior night. She thought that meant that she’d get some help from Mr. Gallagher’s mother, but that never happened.”

According to a news release from the Michigan State Police, Gallagher was captured in Allegan County after fleeing to lower Michigan. He was arraigned there on April 9, 2025, on charges of carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon, resisting/obstructing a police officer and felony firearm.

The victim in the case addressed Economopoulos, saying “As soon as he kidnapped me from the parking lot, I was terrified. And when he took me to that field, my worst nightmare became my horrific reality.”

While speaking in court prior to the sentencing, Gallagher told Economopoulos, “I’ve been able to learn that, yes, I have PTSD, I do have ADHD, my brain struggles to produce dopamine.”

Gallagher said, “And I deeply hold a deep regret and remorse. She’s the woman I chose to have a kid with, start a family with, and Judge, with everything that was going on in my life, you’re right, I mentally crashed.”

Before imposing the sentence, Economopoulos addressed Gallagher directly.

“I don’t think that reformation is in the cards for you unless your counseling and therapy is such an invasive event that your whole chemistry, your whole way of thinking is changed. You would practically need to have a personality transplant, given your violent history, to become a better man, unfortunately. And that is sad.”

He also stated, “What you did to [the victim] was a holocaust for her. It was the death of many things within her,” said Economopoulos. “It was a betrayal like nothing else.”

Economopoulos emphasized the broader purpose of the sentencing.

“The goal of deterrence is also a part of sentencing,” said Economopoulos. “That means that the community is watching. They want to know what happens to somebody who does this – what happens to somebody who practically bites a digit off of the hand of a victim who is trying to get the keys from her, who orders her into a vehicle, who drives her out to a field, who sits her down and kneels her down execution style, points a gun to her head several times, tells her to basically kiss her life goodbye and maybe family members to boot, who fires a gun close to her head, who complains about not wanting to drag her dead body into the woods and so on and so forth, who takes her back to a more private setting and violates her, penetrates her multiple ways, multiple times… while he tries to rehabilitate himself with counseling.”

Gallagher also has a prior criminal history. In 2019, when he was 18, he was sentenced in the 47th Circuit Court to a minimum of 40 months in prison after pleading guilty to criminal sexual assault charges along with co-defendants in two cases.