Suspect in assault pleads not guilty

The Daily Inter Lake

A man accused of trying to strangle his girlfriend pleaded not guilty Thursday to a half-dozen charges.

Christopher Dyer, 51, is in jail in lieu of $500,000 bond on charges related to a Nov. 28 incident near Columbia Falls.

He is held on suspicion of attempted deliberate homicide, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, obstructing justice, and tampering with evidence.

According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, Dyer became angry when the woman asked him to leave her house.

He allegedly punched her, said he would kill her, and wrapped a belt from a bathrobe around her neck and strangled her until she lost consciousness.

Dyer allegedly then put the battered woman, naked, in an unheated room and took her cell phone and regular phone, and loaded a gun in her presence.

He eventually left, and she drove herself to the hospital for treatment of multiple facial fractures and other injuries.

Curtis set a trial date of March 13.

Dyer is represented by public defender Sean Hinchey.

If convicted on all charges, Dyer could be sentenced to as many as 170 years in prison.