A 39-year-old Browning man who knocked his girlfriend unconscious in Kalispell last summer was back in court this week after he missed his sentencing hearing.
Calvin Steve Spotted Eagle has been charged with felony bail jumping after failing to appear at his December sentencing hearing. Spotted Eagle pleaded not guilty to the bail jumping charge in Flathead County District Court on May 7.
The initial criminal charge for which Spotted Eagle was scheduled to be sentenced stemmed from an incident last year that resulted in a felony charge of partner or family member assault.
According to court documents, Spotted Eagle and his girlfriend of five years were having an argument while walking near downtown 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, 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 is set to go to trial in November on the bail jumping charges.