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Flathead County Man Sentenced for Assault, Arson

Elijah Norman Weller sentenced to supervision under the state's Department of Corrections for assaulting his girlfriend and setting a man’s front door on fire

By Justin Franz

A Kalispell man who attacked his girlfriend last year and later tried to set his former landlord’s front door on fire was sentenced in Flathead County District Court on Feb. 26.

Elijah Norman Weller received a 15-year sentence with 10 years suspended stemming from a July 2014 incident where he repeatedly kicked his girlfriend in the head and then shot at her with a shotgun as she fled. He also received a five-year suspended sentence for setting two fires in the Kalispell area last August.

According to court documents, early on the morning of July 4, 2014, Weller attacked his girlfriend in their shared home on Poplar Drive near Kalispell. Weller reportedly grabbed her by the hair and threw her on the ground before kicking her on her left side so hard that she “felt something happen inside her body.”

The woman was able to get up and walk outside where she met three friends. She got into one of her friend’s vehicles, and as they drove away Weller fired a shotgun toward them, according to court records. The woman was taken to North Valley Hospital in Whitefish where doctors discovered that her spleen had ruptured and that she needed an emergency operation to remove it.

Less than two weeks later, Weller set fire to his landlord’s front door and a parked vehicle belonging to his ex-girlfriend’s acquaintance.

In August, Weller was charged with two counts of arson and in September he was charged with felony aggravated assault and assault with a weapon. In December he signed a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to the charges of arson and guilty by way of Alford to the charges of assault with a weapon and aggravated assault.