Suspended sentence in Evergreen beating case

A 33-year-old Columbia Falls man has been sentenced to five years with the Montana Department of Corrections with all suspended after being accused of beating a 38-year-old man with a baseball bat in the White Birch Motel in Evergreen in April 2011.

Rocky Davis initially faced up to 20 years in prison for assault with a weapon or aggravated assault and up to 40 years in prison for robbery. The charges were amended to one felony count of burglary and one misdemeanor count of assault.

According to court documents, the attack was the result of Davis’ girlfriend leaving him to stay with the eventual victim. She reported the assault to authorities five days after the attack while she was being held in the Flathead County Detention Center.

The victim initially told authorities Davis hit him with his fists but later said Davis used an aluminum baseball bat. He also said Davis stole 350 methadone pills and $250.

Davis allegedly told authorities he didn’t use a bat but instead hit the victim “less than 10 times in the face and side of the head with his fists.”

According to court documents, the attack left the victim with “bleeding on the brain, a tooth being pulled out of his dentures, two black eyes, an abrasion on his right collar bone, a small bruise on either side of his body and several scratches on his head.” Nurses reported that the victim sustained multiple small intracranial hemorrhages and a small subarachnoid hemorrhage.

In December last year, Columbia Falls City Judge Tina Gordon fined Davis $585 with $285 suspended for a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon, a set of plastic knuckles.