Plea agreement delayed for accused stabber

Flathead County prosecutors will have to file new charging documents if they want a plea deal to go through for a Kalispell man accused of stabbing someone eight times in February.

Flathead District Court Judge David Ortley would not accept the plea bargain for Justin Westermeyer, 28, on Wednesday.

The document would have had Westermeyer plead guilty to criminal endangerment. He would have received a 10-year sentence, with all of that time suspended. Westermeyer is currently charged with felony assault with a weapon, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in state prison and a $50,000 fine.

Private attorney Thane Johnson spoke on behalf of the victim and his family. He asked that the judge deny the plea agreement.

“If amended as allowed, you have an absolute travesty of justice,” Johnson argued.

Johnson said that the victim was stabbed once in the chest and seven times in the back during the attack. The victim suffered a deflated lung, lacerated kidney and other cuts that narrowly missed the heart and spine.

“He did more than pose a risk of serious bodily injury,” Johnson said. “He caused serious bodily injury.”

Johnson admitted that there was likely some degree of self-defense that occurred in the alleged stabbing, because drugs were involved in the case and the victim had gone over to Westermeyer’s residence in search of the victim’s newborn son.

But a single stab wound or even two to the front would have been a more believable in a case of self-defense than seven stab wounds to the back, Johnson argued.

“That’s criminal endangerment?” Johnson asked. “It’s not ... It was premeditated. He said ‘I’m going to kill you.’”

Johnson said he was also concerned that the plea agreement did not have any stipulations for drug treatment for Westermeyer.

Both prosecutors and defense attorneys resisted Johnson’s appeal to the judge.

Westermeyer’s attorney Timothy Wenz said there was no evidence his client was on drugs at the time of the stabbing, but that under the proposed plea agreement Westermeyer would be under the supervision of probation and parole officers who require a chemical dependency evaluation during enrollment and proper follow-through as part of the program.

Wenz also said that other mitigating factors would have supported Westermeyer’s defense, including the fact that the victim had made many phone calls to a woman the two men were fighting over, and that the victim had blocked Westermeyer in with his vehicle.

Wenz said there was also no witness that could verify that Westermeyer said “I’m going to kill you.”

Wenz and Flathead Deputy County Attorney John Donovan said that they both reviewed the case.

Donovan said Johnson had no authority to request that the judge ax the plea deal because the only parties to the case were the state of Montana and Westermeyer.  

“He’s not a prosecutor,” Donovan said. “That’s the power I am vested with, to determine which cases to bring and how to see them through ... I reviewed the evidence and made a decision. For him to get up here and suggest otherwise is disingenuous.”

Donovan said the appropriate time for victims to weigh in would be at sentencing.

Ortley said that Donovan had not filed the proper paperwork for the plea agreement but he would consider it once the proper paperwork was filed.

“I’m not going to ignore that a victim may or may not have a voice in this,” Ortley said.

He set another hearing for Dec. 17, but said that the matter might be handled before then if time permits.

Westermeyer remains in Flathead County Detention Center.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.