Eureka man convicted in road rage incident

A Eureka man was convicted on Thursday in a case of alleged road rage that took place on Memorial Day in Kalispell.

Kristopher Stacy, 30, entered an Alford plea to an amended charge of felony criminal endangerment as part of a plea agreement in which a felony assault with a weapon charge was dropped. An Alford plea convicts an individual of a crime, but allows the defendant to maintain his or her innocence. It acknowledges that an individual is likely to be found guilty at trial.

Stacy was accused of shooting at another vehicle in Kalispell over Memorial Day weekend.

According to court documents and dispatch call logs, Kalispell Police responded at 10:26 p.m. on May 29 to Cemetery Road and U.S. 93. Someone had reported that a person in a vehicle had pulled out a shotgun and shot at their vehicle.

Stacy and a woman were located in the suspected vehicle. Stacy allegedly admitted that he got angry at another driver, but denied firing a shotgun at the driver.

The woman traveling with Stacy allegedly told investigators that Stacy had fired a round from the driver’s-side window to scare the other drivers.

According to the plea agreement, state prosecutors intend to recommend an eight-year commitment to the Montana Department of Corrections, with four years suspended. Prosecutors are going to ask that the sentence run consecutive to a recent sentence that was pronounced for felony driving under the influence in Lincoln County. In that case Stacy was sentenced to 13 months in the Montana Department of Corrections, with a consecutive four-year suspended commitment to the correction agency.

Stacy’s attorney is going to ask that road rage sentence run concurrently with the driving under the influence sentence.

Sentencing was set for Jan. 12.

Stacy’s criminal history includes multiple convictions for driving under the influence in Montana and North Dakota, driving with a suspended license, and breaking into the Whitefish Presbyterian Church.