Watne to be sentenced

Flathead County Commissioner Robert Watne entered a plea Monday that canceled his criminal trial, set to begin today.

Watne entered an Alford plea to a charge of obstructing an officer. By entering an Alford plea, Watne was found guilty, acknowledging the prosecution had enough evidence to likely to get a guilty verdict, but not admitting guilt.

Watne was charged with assault, or, in the alternative, obstructing an officer. He reportedly pushed a sheriff's deputy on April 5 during an altercation east of Kalispell. The incident happened at the property of Watne's friend, Beth Benjamin, who was arrested during a fire in her barn. Watne and Benjamin later married.

The pair reportedly resisted a sheriff's deputy's order to stay away from the burning barn. The deputy was reportedly pushed and punched.

Watne's attorney, James Bartlett, entered the plea for Watne Monday in a telephonic conference with Justice of the Peace David Ortley and Missoula attorney Dusty Deschamps. Deschamps is acting as a special prosecutor in the case to avoid any conflicts or appearance of conflict from the Flathead County Attorney's Office.

Ortley scheduled Watne's sentencing for Thursday. He faces up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $500.

A jury convicted Benjamin in October of resisting arrest, assault, and obstructing an officer. Ortley deferred imposition of sentence for six months on the charges of assault and resisting arrest. For the charge of obstructing an officer, he gave Benjamin a six-month suspended sentence and fined her $560.

The assault and resisting charges will vanish from Benjamin's record in six months if she has no other offenses. She had no prior convictions.

Watne has two DUI convictions from 2001 and 2002.