Guilty plea in assault

The Daily Inter Lake

An Evergreen man who originally was charged with attempted murder pleaded guilty Thursday to assaulting and kidnapping his girlfriend.

Christopher Dyer, 52, testified that he is guilty, but also blamed his victim.

"I had been hit and kicked repeatedly for two months," he said. "There are two sides to every story."

The side told by the Flathead County Sheriff's Office when they arrested Dyer is that he badly beat and strangled the woman with a bathrobe belt. She was taken to the hospital in serious condition last November.

The woman told investigators that she had ordered Dyer out of her house. He attacked her and said he was going to kill her, according to a sheriff's report. Patrol Cmdr. Pete Wingert called the attack "especially heinous."

Dyer was found later at his own house, where he had reportedly tried to kill himself.

In court Thursday, he said he has no memory of strangling the woman. Officials said he made her go into a room and threatened her if she tried to leave. He also threatened her with a handgun.

He pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, assault with a weapon, and tampering with evidence for laundering sheets that contained proof of the assault. He faces as long as 60 years in prison if convicted of all four felonies.

District Judge Stewart Stadler scheduled sentencing for Dec. 7.

Deputy County Attorney Dan Guzynski and Dyer's attorney, Sean Hinchey, plan to offer testimony at sentencing, so that date might change.

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com.