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Second Child Assault
Thomas Richard Nichols appeared in Flathead County District Court on Jan. 7
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Man Whose Conviction Was Overturned Denies
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BY JUSTIN FRANZ OF THE BEACON
A Kalispell man has denied sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl less than a year after the Montana Supreme Court over- turned his previous assault conviction.
Thomas Richard Nichols, 26, pleaded not guilty to sexual assault at an arraignment in Flathead County District Court on Jan. 7.
According to court documents, the Flathead County Sher- i ’s O ce received a report of a sexual assault on Dec. 2, 2015. A deputy talked to a woman who said her 5-year-old daughter had stayed at Nichols’ house on multiple occasions between June and December 2015. Following a recent visit, the young girl told her mother that Nichols had touched her in a sexual manner. The girl gave authorities the same account during a forensic interview and Nichols was arrested on Dec. 11.
If convicted, Nichols could face up to 100 years in prison. He is set to go to trial in April and remains incarcerated at the Flat- head County Detention Center.
The new accusations come a year after the Montana Supreme Court overturned Nichols’ previous conviction. In early-2010, Nichols, then 20 years old, allegedly touched a 9-year-old girl in a sexual way. He was charged with sexual assault and sex- ual intercourse without consent and was found guilty of both at trial in December 2011. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
But in early 2015, the Supreme Court overturned his conviction
Thomas Nichols appears in Flathead County District Court on Jan. 7. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON arguing that jurors had heard unfairly prejudicial testimony
during the trial, speci cally about Nichols’ past sexual habits. Soon after the conviction was overturned, the Flathead County Attorney’s O ce again led charges against Nich- ols. In June 2015, he took a deal and pleaded no contest to an amended charge of felony criminal endangerment. The second count, sexual intercourse without consent, was dropped and Nichols was given a 10-year suspended sentence to the Mon-
BRIEFS
Columbia Falls Man Pleads Guilty to Vehicular Homicide
A Columbia Falls man has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide while under the in uence seven months after he crashed head-on into another vehicle on the North Fork Road, killing a 68-year- old man from Nebraska.
Matthew Michael Hollo, 23, appeared in Flathead County District Court on Jan. 8 at a change of plea hearing.
According to court documents, Hollo was drunk when he drove his Dodge Ram truck head-on into Timothy R. Fang- man’s Toyota Land Cruiser shortly before 3 p.m. on June 6, 2015. Fangman was pro- nounced dead at the scene.
Hollo told law enforcement that Fang- man had been driving in his lane of tra c so he swerved into the other lane to avoid him just as Fangman did the same. But Hollo’s story did not match up with the evidence at the scene, which indicated Hollo was driving over the speed limit.
Hollo was taken to an area hospital where a blood test found his blood alcohol level was .143 shortly after the accident, according to court records. Hollo was charged with vehicular homicide while under the in uence two months later and pleaded not guilty soon after.
In a plea deal signed in December, Hollo agreed to plead guilty. In exchange for the guilty plea, the state will recom- mend that the court impose a 30-year sentence to the Montana State Prison
with 20 years suspended.
Hollo will be sentenced on April 5 at
9 a.m.
Libby Man Charged with Assault After Shooting
A 35-year-old Libby man has been arrested in connection with a shooting near Libby last week.
Craig Alan Barrows has been charged with felony assault with a weapon and misdemeanor negligent endangerment following an incident at 1452 Bobtail Road just north of Libby.
According to a press release from the Lincoln County Sheri ’s O ce, deputies responded to the report of a shooting shortly after 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 5. Accord- ing to witnesses, the shooting happened when an argument over a broke wind- shield escalated. When o cers arrived, the reporting party said the alleged shooter, Barrows, had left the scene in a blue Ford Escort. Soon after, deputies found the vehicle and pulled it over. Bar- rows was arrested without incident. A passenger in the vehicle was also arrested but released later on.
Law enforcement o cials said the incident remains under investigation.
If convicted, Barrows could face up to 20 years in prison and a $50,000 ne.
Trial Pushed Back for Man Who Made Threats on Twitter
The Kalispell man who allegedly threatened to shoot up a school and
being released into the custody of his
tana State Prison.
jfranz@ atheadbeacon.com
assassinate local Jewish leaders is set to go to trial in March.
David Lenio was previously sched- uled to go to trial this month but his attorney recently led a motion to push to trial back to March 14. It is expected to take up to ve days. This is the second time the trial has been pushed back in two months.
Lenio was originally supposed to go to trial in November but just days before it was supposed to begin Public Defender Brent Getty led a motion to continue. In it, Getty wrote a plea deal was in the works and that it was possible that a trial could be averted.
The motion prompted speculation that the felony intimidation charge against Lenio could be reduced to a mis- demeanor or a deferred prosecution. Soon after, a small protest was held out- side of the Flathead County Justice Cen- ter and an online petition urged County Attorney Ed Corrigan to take the case to trial.
Lenio was arrested last winter after he sent a series of threatening messages on Twitter. On Feb. 16, he told police that he was “trying to bring attention to cer- tain social issues,” according to court documents.
Lenio spent ve months in the Flat-
head County Detention Center before
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family in Michigan.
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JANUARY 13, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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