Court upholds ruling in local assault case

The Montana Supreme Court has upheld a decision made in a criminal assault case in Flathead District Court.

According to the opinion brief issued by the high court, District Court Judge Ted Lympus correctly denied Michael Farrell’s motion to withdraw a guilty plea.

Farrell was initially charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon after an Oct. 16, 2008, incident in which he was accused of punching Leslie Whitney in the face several times while the two were camping at Moose Crossing, breaking her false teeth and leaving her face “very swollen and discolored,” according to documents from the original case.

Whitney also alleged he pulled her head back and held a knife to her throat, threatening to kill her and dump the body.

Farrell eventually agreed to a plea bargain in which he pleaded no contest to criminal endangerment in return for a suspended sentence.

He was then charged with bail jumping after failing to appear at his sentencing.

He later defended his absence by claiming to have been conducting his own investigation, and moved to withdraw his guilty plea under the argument that inaccuracies in several of Whitney’s statements undermined her credibility.

Whitney had said she attempted to call police on her cell phone, which Farrell had taken and broken. Farrell said the cell phone belonged to him and it was still functioning when it was seized by police.

Farrell said his own attorney did not prepare a defense and failed to interview any witnesses, including Whitney and hospital staff, before negotiating the plea agreement.

In a Sept. 28 opinion, the Montana Supreme Court ruled in Lympus’ favor, upholding his decision to deny Farrell’s motion and saying it was “clear” that the motion was correctly denied.

“Farrell’s attack on the credibility of his girlfriend proves unavailing,” the court opinion reads.

“Farrell may have paid the bills for both cell phones, so he technically owned both cell phones. The girlfriend clearly used one of the phones, however, in her attempt to call the police. Farrell also knocked the cell phone to the ground as she attempted to call the police. The girlfriend never had the cell phone again before police questioned here. The girlfriend’s erroneous belief that Farrell had broken the cell phone fails to undermine the voluntariness of Farrell’s plea.”