A 68-year-old Kalispell man who police say attacked another man with a hatchet and threw a knife at a responding police officer has pleaded guilty but mentally ill to criminal endangerment as part of a plea agreement.
Jerome Hamous made the plea Thursday in Flathead District Court.
Police say they were called Aug. 20 after Hamous tried to attack a 74-year-old man with a hatchet, a blow police say was deflected by the man’s son. Police say Hamous also slit his throat with a knife.
The plea agreement calls for Hamous to be sent to the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs for evaluation to determine how he should be sentenced.
He faces a possible six-year suspended sentence with the Department of Health and Human Services if it’s determined he was mentally ill at the time of the attack.