Judge denies bail change request

A 20-year-old Libby man was denied modification of bail by Montana 19th Judicial District Court Judge James Wheelis Monday.

In his decision, Wheelis characterized the defendant, Thomas Joe “TJ” Ellsworth, as “unreliable and volatile,” and denied the defendant’s request for bail modification.

Ellsworth was arrested Dec. 8, 2015, and charged with felony assault on a peace officer after deputies of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and officers of both the Libby Police Department and the Montana Highway Patrol responded to an address on Fifth Street on a domestic disturbance call.

During the police response, an altercation took place between Ellsworth and Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Short. 

According to Short’s report, when he and Officer Scott Kessler of the Libby Police Department attempted to speak to Ellsworth about the domestic disturbance, Ellsworth became aggressive.

“At this time TJ Ellsworth began yelling at Officer Kessler and I and telling us ‘this is private property, you need to get the [expletive deleted] off my land.,’” Short wrote in his report. “I asked TJ to calm down so I could get a statement from him and he said, ‘[expletive deleted] you, you have no business being here you need to leave,’ and took an aggressive posture toward me. I then told TJ that he was being detained and I attempted to grab his left hand to place him in handcuffs. At this point TJ attempted to jerk his left arm away from my left hand and pulled me towards him. I then grabbed TJ’s left arm with both hands and he began to struggle to get away from me and began swinging his right arm to attempt to strike me. I decided to take TJ to the ground to keep from being hit, at this point he stepped on my left foot causing me to injure my ankle as we went to the floor.

“Once on the floor, TJ continued to try and stike me but Officer Kessler and I were able to keep him from making contact. At this point Tom, Sr., came into the residence and caused Kessler to have to let go of TJ and keep Tom away from the situation. At this point TJ was able to punch me in the right eye with his right hand as I attempted to get him restrained.”

Following the incident, Short was examined at Cabinet Peaks Medical Center. He suffered a sprained ankle and a small broken bone on the right side of his nose, according to the report.

During Monday’s proceedings Ellsworth’s attorney, Scott Hilderman, called two of Ellsworth’s former teachers, Todd Berget and Dean Herreid, to the stand. Both teachers testified they believed Ellsworth was emotionally disturbed and had a tendency to exaggerate situations.

“He puffs up,” Herreid said. “He’s a big mouth.”

Both teachers told the judge about Ellsworth making up stories in order to make himself seem tough. Such stories included a tale of Ellsworth allegedly beating up a Libby High School administrator prior to his being placed at the Central School.

Hilderman then called Thomas Ellsworth, Sr., to the stand. The senior Ellsworth testified that his son was diagnosed during his elementary school years as “extremely emotionally disturbed,” and that he is very protective of his mother and sisters. He said Short responded to Tracy Ellsworth in a rude manner, which prompted the younger Ellsworth to react angrily, but only verbally, to Short, who then attacked the defendant and bashed his face against a wood stove in the Ellsworth trailer. 

Prosecuting attorney Jeff Zwang of the Lincoln County Attorney’s Office asked the elder Ellsworth if such a bashing would cause visible injuries to the face and body, to which the elder responded affirmatively. The witness could not explain why no physical marks were present on his son when he was photographed by officers after the altercation.

The final witness of the hearing was Lincoln County Sheriff Roby Bowe. Bowe testified that he felt Ellsworth could potentially pose a danger if another situation developed where officers would be forced to confront Ellsworth.

“If he’s confronted, I think there could be problems,” Bowe said. “I would be concerned about the safety of those officers.”

After the hearing Bowe said the defendant’s father misrepresented the facts of the incident.

“Mr. Ellsworth gave an inaccurate account of the facts in court today,” Bowe said.

Judge Wheelis agreed with the prosecutors and denied any modification to Ellsworth’s bond. He is being held in the Lincoln County jail on $100,000 bond.