Man pleads not guilty in Polson hammer attack

 POLSON, (AP) — A Polson man accused of attacking his brother-in-law and father-in-law with a hammer earlier this month has pleaded not guilty.

Desmond Alan Mackay appeared in District Court in Polson on Thursday. He pleaded not guilty to an amended charge of deliberate homicide as well as two counts of assault with a weapon.

Prosecutors say Mackay waited by a door to a garage with the hammer on March 5, intending to assault his brother-in-law Jesse Waugh, who he believed owed him money.

However, his father-in-law John Barrows walked through the door first. He was struck in the head and later died of his injuries, leading prosecutors to add the deliberate homicide charge.