Man arrested in May standoff receives sentence
Aaron Martin McGarry heads to the defendant's table in Flathead County District Court on Thursday, May 18. McGarry faces felony strangulation and theft charges. (Derrick Perkins/Daily Inter Lake)
The Kalispell man arrested in May after a police standoff in an apartment complex near Liberty Street will spend the next three years in the care of the state Department of Corrections.
Judge Robert Allison handed the sentence down to Aaron Martin McGarry, 35, on Sept. 1. He also gave McGarry credit for 115 days of time served.
McGarry agreed to plead guilty to a single felony count of theft in July after reaching a deal with prosecutors. In return, they dropped a strangulation charge against him.
McGarry was accused of strangling his girlfriend and taking off with her vehicle in early May. Officers opted for caution in arresting McGarry owing to his criminal history, which includes threats against law enforcement, leading to the May 9 standoff. Investigators later recovered the vehicle under a tarp in Whitefish, according to court documents.
Allison set the sentence to run concurrent to McGarry’s still outstanding 10-year sentence from a 2020 conviction on a criminal endangerment charge. In that case, McGarry was accused of using a Taser on the mother of his children during a disagreement.
Initially charged with assault with a weapon, McGarry eventually struck an agreement with prosecutors that saw him receive a partially suspended sentence.
News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.