Felon suspected in Kila machete attack

A Kila man convicted of criminal endangerment in 2022 is back in county jail after allegedly attacking another man with a machete last week.

Held with bail set at $90,000, Skylar Nathaniel Fincher, 25, faces a single felony count of assault with a weapon in Flathead County District Court following his Jan. 16 arrest. He is expected to appear before Judge Heidi Ulbricht for his Jan. 25 arraignment. 

The victim, found walking in the area of U.S. 2 and Kila Hill with a bloody cut to the side of his head, told Flathead County Sheriff’s Office deputies that Fincher struck him with a machete, according to court documents. The attack came while the pair argued over a BB gun, the victim said. 

While first responders took the victim to a hospital, deputies headed to the location of the initial 3 p.m. 911 call and met with a witness, court documents said. She told investigators she saw the two arguing and Fincher later swing a machete, according to court documents. 

Following his arrest, Fincher allegedly told deputies that the victim hit him first. 

Prosecutors also are seeking the revocation of Fincher’s two-year deferred sentence on a criminal endangerment conviction. Fincher initially faced an assault on a minor charge in that case after authorities began investigating him in 2020 for hitting his then-girlfriend’s daughter with a belt and sitting on her, according to court documents. 

Fincher and the child’s mother both told investigators that the bruising the child suffered came from a fall, court documents said. 

Fincher later agreed to plead guilty by way of an Alford plea to the amended criminal endangerment charge. In an Alford plea, a defendant maintains their innocence while acknowledging a jury likely would find them guilty based on the evidence. 

Judge Robert Allison handed down the deferred two-year sentence in August 2022. 

In a report filed in district court on Jan. 18, Probation and Parole officer David Edwards wrote that the alleged machete attack violated the terms of Fincher’s sentence. He also threatened to wound the victim’s girlfriend, Edwards wrote. 

A day after his arrest, authorities tested Fincher’s urine, according to the report. It came back positive for methamphetamine, amphetamine, ecstasy and fentanyl, Edwards wrote, another violation. 

He recommended Fincher see his deferred sentence revoked and receive a five-year sentence with the state Department of Corrections.

Fincher, Edwards concluded, “has shown he is a threat to the community and not suitable for community supervision.”

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.