Man pleads guiltyin transient assault

The Daily Inter Lake

Edward Grogg, 27, pleaded guilty Friday to attempted homicide for attacking a transient and leaving him for dead March 23.

Grogg was one of two men who attacked Ralph Cisco, then 45, in Lawrence Park. Police said Cisco was beaten, burned with a frying pan and stabbed. Cisco survived, despite being stabbed five times in the abdomen.

In testimony Friday before District Judge Ted Lympus, Grogg said he was sleeping in a tent at the vagrant encampment when Cisco and Jeremy Raskiewicz, 24, began arguing about a cat that one of them killed.

The argument escalated and Grogg insinuated himself, eventually attacking Cisco. Grogg and Raskiewicz left the area and went to a motel, believing they had killed Cisco, Grogg said.

Cisco reportedly passed in and out of consciousness and then walked to a business on East Idaho Street in Kalispell to seek help the next day.

Prosecuting Deputy County Attorney Dan Guzynski credited sheriff's deputies with "doing a wonderful job on this case."

It was confusing, he said, dealing with transients who didn't want to be accountable. From the beginning, they lied about where the assault happened, saying it was near Wal-Mart, because they wanted to protect their encampment, he said.

Grogg will be sentenced next month. He has been in jail since his arrest in March.

Raskiewicz had pleaded innocent and is scheduled for trial.