Libby man sentenced in knife attack

Khristafer Lee Gentry, who was arrested July 31 and charged with a felony count of assault with a weapon, was sentenced to a one-year term in the Lincoln County Detention Center in Montana’s 19th Judicial District Court Monday morning, with the entire term suspended.

A plea agreement between Gentry and the Lincoln County Attorney’s Office reduced the charge to a misdemeanor count of negligent endangerment with a recommendation for the one-year suspended sentence. Gentry was also given credit for the 80 days he has spent in jail since his arrest July 31.

Gentry was arrested by Sergeant Darren Short of the Libby Police Department after Short was dispatched to an alley near Eighth Street and Mineral Avenue in Libby.  According to his report, attached to the affidavit of probable cause, Short, upon his arrival, found Gentry on the ground, unconscious. Short wrote Gentry awakened while being checked for responsiveness and became aggressive.

“I checked his responsiveness and the male, who I later identified as Khristafer Lee Gentry, woke up and responded to me,” Short wrote. “An ambulance was dispatched to care for Gentry who had become comabative and had to be restrained and handcuffed.”

During the episode, Short was contacted by Deputy Boyd White of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, who had detained another man south of Short’s location in Libby. The man told White Gentry had followed him into the alley and “was trying to get him into a fight.”

The man said he tried to walk away from Gentry, who then pulled a knife. The unidentified male then punched Gentry in the face, knocking him unconscious, and then walked away.

Short investigated the scene and found a knife, as well as a pair of shorts and a black knife sheath, along with other personal items belonging to Gentry.

Another unidentified witness confirmed Gentry rapidly approached the other man on a bicycle and pursued him into the alley. The witness also confirmed the first man attempted to walk away from Gentry, but knocked him out after the knife was brandished.