Charges dismissed in shooting

Charges against a 51-year-old Columbia Falls man charged in a 2011 shooting incident were dismissed without prejudice on Feb. 7 after the judge ruled that four exhibits were inadmissible.

William Russell was arrested by sheriff’s deputies on Sept. 30, 2011, after he allegedly shot at two men in a vehicle and pointed his gun at a third man at his shop on U.S. 2 south of Highway 40 and then chased their vehicle to the entrance of Glacier Park International Airport.

Russell initially was charged with two counts of assault with a weapon and one count of criminal endangerment. He faced up to 20 years in prison and a $50,000 fines if convicted of the assault charge.

In preparation for trial, Russell’s attorney, Quentin Rhoades, filed a motion to exclude three reports from the Phoenix Police Department in which Russell was never charged with a crime. Flathead County District Court Judge Robert Allison held a hearing on the motion on Jan. 29 and issued his order on Feb. 1.

Allison noted that “irrelevant evidence is inadmissible” and that “evidence of uncharged conduct admitted in a criminal trial perpetuates the risk that a jury will punish the defendant for his bad character and deny him the opportunity to defend against the charges at issue.”

Montana statute allows citizens to make a private arrest, Allison said, so long as there is probable cause and reasonable force is used. Russell claims he was trying to detain the men at his shop in 2011 while they were in possession of stolen vehicle titles.

Allison also noted that the prosecution’s attempt to show a pattern of behavior in which Russell took matters into his own hands, despite numerous warnings by police and sheriff’s deputies, is not a “common scheme or plan” because it does not have a “single objective.”

In conclusion, Allison ruled that the three Phoenix police reports were inadmissible, along with a Flathead County Sheriff’s Office report about Russell and his bookkeeper. On Feb. 7, Allison ruled on a motion by Flathead County deputy attorney Travis Ahner and dismissed the charges against Russell.

For his part, Russell says the charges were dismissed “because they didn’t have a case.” He recalled numerous run-ins with the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office in which he was mistreated — starting with his arrest on his own ranch property because his dog was running loose without a license.

Russell said the police reports the prosecution wanted admitted as evidence were inaccurate. In the case of the homeless man in Phoenix who was shot in the head, the man didn’t die and the shooting was in self-defense.

Regarding the dispute Russell had with a landlord in Flathead County after he subleased a building to a man who grew medical marijuana, Russell claims the landlord turned around and rented the building back to the pot grower after canceling Russell’s lease with option to buy.

In the most recent case, Russell said he tried over and over again to get the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office to go after a man who stole 1,000 vehicle titles and seven vehicles from Russell, but the sheriff’s office wouldn’t respond despite the abundant evidence he claimed to have. That’s when Russell enticed the man into showing up at his shop on U.S. 2 with the stolen titles in hand and tried to make a private arrest.

Russell says he plans to sue Flathead County for malicious prosecution. He says the case makes him look like a “gun toting” individual when he’s a law-abiding person.

“I’ve never been in trouble with the law,” he said. “I was an Eagle Scout and raised two kids. I’m not embarrassed by anything I did, and I’d do it over again.”