Man denies second child assault charge
A Kalispell man pleaded not guilty on Thursday to allegations that he sexually assaulted a 5-year old girl less than a year after the Montana Supreme Court overturned his 40-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl in 2010.
Thomas Richard Nichols, 26, faces between four and 100 years in prison if convicted.
According to court documents, on Dec. 2, 2015, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a sexual assault of a young girl. A detective interviewed the girl’s mother, who said that the child had stayed the night at Nichols’ home several times since June.
The girl allegedly told her mother that Nichols touched her inappropriately.
A forensic interview was conducted and the girl gave more specific details about the alleged abuse.
Nichols is serving a 10-year suspended sentence that resulted from a plea agreement in August in another child sex case. The plea deal came after the Montana Supreme Court remanded a December 2011 conviction for sexual assault and sexually intercourse without consent.
A jury had found that Nichols had molested a 9-year-old girl while her family was in the other room. She claimed he offered to pay her $10 to let him continue the sexual contact but she refused.
The high court found that Nichols’ conviction was invalid because it was inappropriate for prosecutors to question Nichols’ girlfriend about the couple’s sexual behaviors as intently as they did. The prosecution claimed that there was nothing wrong with the questioning because Nichols had opened the door to the questions by saying that there was no reason he would need to molest a child because of his healthy sex life with his girlfriend.
Bond for Nichols has been set at $300,000. He remains in jail. Judge Heidi Ulbricht set a trial date in the new case for April 25. A revocation hearing for the suspended sentence was set for May 19.
Timothy Wenz, Nichols’ attorney, said that the new case will have an impact on the revocation proceedings.
“I think once the underlying case is resolved, I think this will get resolved,” Wenz said of the revocation proceedings.
Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.