Man admits cutting mom's brake lines

On Thursday a Kalispell man admitted to cutting his mother’s brake lines in June after getting into an argument.

During Flathead County District Court proceedings, Corey Jonathan Woods, 23, admitted to felony criminal endangerment and criminal possession of dangerous drugs as part of a plea agreement.

While on the witness stand, Woods admitted that he and his mother got into a fight on June 15. Woods said his relationship with his parents has been strained. His father has a restraining order against Woods and is dying of a liver condition.

Woods admitted that he purposefully cut his mother’s brake lines in a bout of anger after the fight. The day of the incident, his mother called deputies initially to report the dispute. When the deputy arrived, Woods had left. The mother called back a half hour later, from the roadside on the U.S. 93 bypass.

She said she suspected her brake lines had been cut after they didn’t respond when she went down hill. The woman downshifted to get the car to stop.

The deputy inspected the vehicle and found that the brake lines had been cut with a knife.

Woods was arrested by deputies two days later. He was jailed for the incident and also for a March 5 incident where he was found in possession of methamphetamine.

In his admissions to the court, Woods said his mother has contacted him and let him know that she has forgiven him.

“That relationship is great,” Woods said. “I’m not going to say we are going to be fine, but we have made amends.”

Prosecutors have recommended a three-year deferred sentence and consecutive two-year deferred sentence in the cases. Woods will be sentenced at a later date.

Stadler reminded Woods that the judge is not bound to follow the conditions of the plea agreement at sentencing. If the judge follows the agreement, but Woods ends up back in court for criminal activity, the judge could send him to jail for 15 years on each charge.