Hungry Horse man pleads guilty to assault charge
A 21-year-old Hungry Horse man is facing his second revocation hearing in two years after he pleaded guilty in Flathead County District Court to felony assault with a weapon.
Justin Walker entered his plea on Dec. 6 after the county attorney’s office agreed to a plea deal that addresses an earlier sentence. Walker has faced three felony charges over the past four years.
According to court records, Walker was charged with one count of felony criminal mischief and one misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a vehicle in July 2009 after he and another man took a Bobcat without permission and were seen driving it on Flathead Drive in Hungry Horse. The day after the incident, Walker admitted to the owner that he had hot-wired the Bobcat and took it.
Two months later, sheriff’s deputies investigated a report of two $10 counterfeit bills used at the Huckleberry Patch restaurant, in Hungry Horse. When a girl who worked at the restaurant mentioned the incident in the Columbia Falls High School “street law” class, a fellow student asked if it was Walker. He said Walker had told him he had some counterfeit bills and wanted to trade them in for real money.
The next day, Walker told another girl who worked at the restaurant that he knew the money was counterfeit, but that he had found the money on the road. Walker was charged with one felony count of forgery, but it was later amended to a misdemeanor.
The two cases were combined for sentencing in June 2010. Judge Stewart Stadler gave Walker a three-year deferred sentence for the criminal mischief charge and six months suspended for each of the misdemeanor charges. Walker was also ordered to pay $3,127 in restitution and a $1,000 fine.
Two months later, Walker’s probation officer recommended his sentence be revoked. Walker was charged with moving without permission, operating a marijuana grow, blowing a 0.181 and a 0.242 blood alcohol content on separate occasions, threatening a sheriff’s deputy, smoking marijuana, obstructing an officer and making no payments on his restitution or fine.
Judge Ted Lympus revoked Walker’s sentence in April 2011 and gave him a seven-year sentence under the Department of Corrections with five suspended for the criminal mischief charge. Lympus also recommended Walker for the Treasure State Correctional Training Center boot camp.
Walker was back in trouble on Sept. 24 this year after he threatened a Martin City man with a knife. The man wanted to tell Walker to slow down when driving through Martin City. Shortly after that incident, the man came across the same vehicle upside down on South Fork Drive.
When sheriff’s deputies arrived at Walker’s house following the accident, Walker allegedly emerged holding a knife. He also was allegedly uncooperative while being transported to the county jail. He blew a 0.199 blood-alcohol content and was charged with DUI in addition to one felony count of assault with a weapon and one felony count of assaulting a peace officer.
Judge David Ortley denied Walker’s request to reduce his $50,000 bond on the assault charge and his $20,000 bond for the criminal mischief charge. In the plea agreement Walker agreed to, the county attorney’s office will recommend 10 years under the Department of Corrections with five suspended for the assault with a weapon charge. A revocation hearing is scheduled for Jan. 17, and sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 14.