Suspect in baseball bat attack given suspended sentence

A Flathead County District Court judge handed down a suspended sentence last month to a man accused of attacking another person with a baseball bat over an outstanding debt in early July. 

Wayne Hickok, 59, initially faced one count of felony assault with a weapon and a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief following the alleged July 3 attack in Columbia Falls. Prosecutors amended the charges to felony criminal endangerment after Hickok took a plea deal in November. 

In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to recommend he receive a suspended three-year sentence with the state Department of Corrections. Judge Heidi Ulbricht stuck to those terms at Hickok’s Jan. 25 sentencing, and gave him credit for 17 days of time served while ordering him to pay $525.96 in restitution.