Evergreen man pleads guilty

KALISPELL — An Evergreen man has pleaded guilty to negligent homicide following an altercation that led to another man’s death.

The Flathead Beacon reports that 54-year-old David Eugene Day made the plea Thursday in Flathead County District Court.

Day testified in court that he and 55-year-old Gerald Payne had been drinking all day at Payne’s second-floor apartment on June 1.

Day said that the men started fighting and that Payne didn’t want to leave, so Day slapped him. Payne ended up falling down a flight of stairs and later died.

The plea deal comes with a recommendation that Day receive a 15-year prison sentence, with 10 years suspended.