Trial set for next week in assault case

A trial date has been set for a Libby man accused of assault in May.

Jeremiah Kendall, 35, will go to a jury trial in Lincoln County Justice Court on Aug. 24, facing assault charges from a May arrest. Kendall is currently being held in Missoula County Jail on felony and federal charges in that county. Lincoln County is still working with Missoula County on transportation arrangements.

If convicted, Kendall faces a maximum six-sentence in Montana State Prison and a maximum fine of $500 for the charge in May.

Kendall was charged on May 26 with assault after Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Jessica Vanderhoef was dispatched to the county courthouse, where a man described his alleged altercation with Kendall. The man told deputies that Kendall assaulted him, showing them injuries on his lip from being punched multiple times in the face.

According to court documents, the man told deputies he was at a local gas station when he began talking to a female friend. After talking to the woman for a few minutes, Kendall allegedly pulled into the parking lot, walked up to the man’s vehicle and began punching him in the face. In the deputy’s report, the man couldn’t recall how many times he was punched in the face, only that Kendall was “threatening his life.”

Kendall left soon after the reported assault, as did the alleged victim. The man told deputies that Kendall circled back and followed him to a different parking lot, assuming Kendall was coming back for a second round. The man hit another car in the parking lot trying to escape, he told deputies.

The woman who was speaking with the man during the alleged assault later told deputies that she was going to meet the man to pay him for mowing her lawn when Kendall arrived. Kendall, she said, had been at her home before she went to pay the man. In the report, she said Kendall punched the man only once before she got in between them and told Kendall to leave. She said Kendall’s friends had been telling him that she was sleeping with the alleged victim, which may have set Kendall on a violent path toward the parking lot.

This was not an isolated incident for Kendall this year, who is currently being held at Missoula County Jail on several different charges. On June 5 he was arrested at a Libby grocery store on a Missoula County warrant for allegedly violating his probation for a drug charge. On June 2, he was arrested in Missoula for felony partner or family member assault and felony intimidation charges after a woman accused him of strangling her in their hotel room and threatening to kill her if she reported the assault.

Including the May assault case, Kendall currently has three pending cases in Lincoln County Justice Court. Charges include obstructing a peace officer, escape, failure to carry proof of insurance, driving without a valid driver’s license and displaying fictitious or altered license plates.

Kendall’s trial on the assault charge is set for Aug. 24.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.