Columbia Falls man charged in beating with bat

A 32-year-old Columbia Falls man has been charged with felony assault with a weapon, aggravated assault and robbery for an April beating that left a man with brain damage.

Rocky Lavon Davis is accused of using a baseball bat in a sustained assault on a 38-year-old man in an Evergreen motel room.

According to court documents, the attack was the result of Davis’ girlfriend leaving him to stay with the eventual victim.

The woman reported the assault to authorities as she was being held at the Flathead County Jail on April 30. Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said deputies responded to the motel on April 25, the night of the alleged attack, but could not immediately ascertain who was responsible.

Davis allegedly went to the White Birch Motel in search of the woman on the morning of April 25, but instead found the victim in his room alone.

While being treated in the Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s Intensive Care Unit, the man told a Sheriff’s Office detective that when Davis came to the door he shut it without allowing him to enter. Davis then pushed the door open and began assaulting the man, according to court documents.

The victim first said Davis hit him with his fists, but later said he used an aluminum baseball bat.

The attack left the man with “bleeding on the brain, a tooth being pulled out of his dentures, two black eyes, an abrasion on his right collar bone, a small bruise on either side of his body and several scratches on his head,” according to court documents.

The victim also told investigators that Davis stole 350 methadone pills and $250 from the motel room.

The woman said she was not in the room when the attack occurred, but that the victim was in bed and had just taken his medications when she left on April 25. When she returned later, she said the man was covered in blood and lying on the ground without his pants, according to court documents.

She said the man didn’t know who she was when she tried to clean him up.

The woman said she later heard from another person that Davis was bragging about the assault, claiming to have beaten the man for more than an hour.

After a second interview with the victim on May 2, a detective reported that the man did not appear to be oriented to date and time, but said he feared for his life and thought Davis was going to kill him.

Nurses reported that the man had sustained multiple small intracranial hemorrhages and “a small subarachnoid hemorrhage.”

They also said his long-term prognosis is unclear and that he would need constant supervision and care, according to court documents.

His family said he would need extended treatment at a convalescent center.

Davis was interviewed May 3 and said he did not use a bat but that he hit the man “less than 10 times in the face and side of the head with his fists,” according to court documents.

Detectives collected a baseball bat owned by Davis to be analyzed to determine if it was used in the assault. The results have not been returned by the Montana State Crime Laboratory, according to court documents.

An arraignment has not yet been scheduled for Davis, who was notified of the charges Thursday. Convictions for assault with a weapon and aggravated assault each carry maximum penalties of 20 years in Montana State Prison. Robbery is punishable by up to 40 years in prison.