A 40-year-old Browning man has been sentenced to the Department of Corrections a year after he knocked out his girlfriend while walking near downtown Kalispell.
Calvin Steve Spotted Eagle was sentenced for partner or family member assault and bail jumping in Flathead County District Court on Aug. 20. Spotted Eagle has been committed to the Department of Corrections for five years. He will also serve six months in the Flathead County Detention Center for bail jumping.
According to court documents, Spotted Eagle and his girlfriend of five years were having an argument while walking near downtown Kalispell in August 2014. As the couple crossed Washington Street, Spotted Eagle began to hit the woman and then punched her in the head, knocking her to the ground. The woman hit her head on the pavement and was knocked unconscious.
Spotted Eagle then dragged the woman to the side of the road. The woman was later taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center.
The 2014 incident was not the first time Spotted Eagle appeared in court on assault charges. He was convicted of partner or family member assault twice before, once in June 2003 and again in May 2011.
In September 2014, Spotted Eagle pleaded not guilty to the charges. A month later he took a plea agreement and admitted that he had hit the woman. The state recommended a five-year suspended sentence to the Department of Corrections and he was released on his own recognizance. But in December, he failed to appear at his sentencing hearing and a judge signed a warrant for his arrest.
Spotted Eagle was later arrested and pleaded not guilty to bail jumping earlier this year. On Aug. 20, he changed his plea to guilty at his sentencing hearing for the assault charge.