Libby man gets deferred sentence in shooting incident

A Libby man who pleaded guilty to firing a gun during an incident involving his partner and a truck driver last summer was sentenced on March 13 in Lincoln County District Court.

Charles Fernley Woods Jr., 68, entered a guilty plea to an amended charge of felony criminal endangerment in Lincoln County District Court on Jan. 3. Last week, District Judge Matt Cuffe gave Woods a 3-year deferred sentence.

“It’s an appropriate sentence and the pre-sentence investigation indicated there is a low risk of you re-offending,” Cuffe said. “A lot of people here think very highly of you.”

Cuffe said Woods received multiple letters of support from community members.

Woods’ partner, Shirley Broden, was also supportive of him.

“I am not a victim in this incident,” Broden said. “He did cut the truck cord so I couldn’t go anywhere, but I wasn’t in any condition to go anywhere, so he was saving me. I did not mean for all this to happen. We are going to church and counseling and he’s being educated to what has happened to me in the past.”

Woods said he fired the gun to make sure he had the attention of the man in the truck, but he said that was his only reason.

“I love and care for her and that’s why I went out there,” Woods said.

Woods was originally charged with felony assault with a weapon, one count of misdemeanor partner or family member assault and one misdemeanor count of criminal destruction of a communication device. Those charges were dropped as a result of a plea deal with Deputy County Attorney Jeff Zwang.

According to the probable cause statement by Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Deputy James Derryberry, he responded to a location on July 1, 2022, on Either Way North and learned that Woods Jr. thought his partner was having an affair with a truck driver. Woods confronted the driver and his partner on U.S. 2. Woods told the truck driver to leave and when the driver turned his back and began to walk back to his truck, Woods fired a round from his handgun into the ground.

Derryberry then wrote in his report that after Woods and his partner returned home, he allegedly tampered with the home phone so she couldn’t call law enforcement. Woods also disconnected a wire to the battery in his partner’s vehicle in an effort to keep her from leaving the residence, according to the court document.

The woman then walked away and she reported hearing a gun shot and believed Woods had shot himself. Woods allegedly told Derryberry he fired a gun shot because he wanted her to believe he shot himself.

Later, Derryberry found Woods’ partner walking down U.S. 2. When interviewing her, she said she was afraid Woods was going to shoot her, according to the court document.

The officer also spoke to the truck driver who was sleeping in his vehicle at mile marker 75 on U.S. 2. He said he turned his back to Woods because he believed he had a gun and was afraid because he didn’t carry a gun.