Defendant pleads guilty but mentally ill

The transient Kalispell man arrested last December after stabbing a Fifth Avenue East resident in his home has pleaded guilty but mentally ill to attempted murder.

Dante Kier, 20, said during testimony in Flathead District Court that he had been hospitalized for mental illness more than 12 times in his life and for harming himself four or five times. He said that the medication he had been put on was helping his mental state.

Defense co-counsel Noel Larrivee asked Kier whether, at the time of his crime, he was acting under extreme emotional distress.

“More than that, yes,” Kier said.

On Dec. 12, 2011, Kier entered the Kalispell home while the homeowner was in his garage getting a tool while working on his dishwasher.

When the homeowner returned, he found Kier standing in his hallway and confronted him.

Kier stabbed the home-owner in the upper arm and inside the mouth with a wood-handled steak knife before trying to stab him in the ribs. A court document noted the blade was “bent severely” during the attack. That bending may have saved the home-owner from further stab wounds, and he was able to restrain Kier until police arrived.

Despite Larrivee’s assurances that he could make any comments during his sentencing, Kier chose to speak at the end of Wednesday’s hearing to apologize to his victim and the victim’s family.

“I just feel like this entire situation was dreadful and that I wish that it never occurred,” Kier said. “I wish that I could take everything back, but I can’t, and I’m sorry to all who were involved.”

Progress in Kier’s case had been delayed several months while two psychological evaluations were completed while Kier was incarcerated in the Flathead County Detention Center. During his stay, he taped a drawing to the inside of his cell-door window of an inverted pentagram adorned with the phrase “Hail Satan.”

Kier previously had identified himself as a member of the Insane Clown Posse gang, referring to himself as a “Juggalo.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation labeled Juggalos a gang threat in its 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, calling it a “loosely organized hybrid gang” that is “forming more organized subsets and engaging in more gang-like criminal activity.” The group morphed out of the fan base of hip-hop group Insane Clown Posse, consisting of rappers Violent J (Joseph Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (Joseph Utsler).

Disposition in Kier’s case, which likely will include a stay at the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs, is scheduled for Dec. 6.

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.