Man held again after alleged assault
POLSON - A Ronan man is facing a slew of felony charges and is back in jail after allegedly committing new offenses and violating the terms of his release on bond in regards to a different, ongoing criminal assault cases.
Jesse James Finley, 20, was arrested on Friday morning and is being held at Lake County Jail on charges of aggravated assault resulting in permanent injury, aggravated partner family member assault, assault on a minor, criminal endangerment, and burglary, all felonies.
Deputy county attorney Mark Russell said the preliminary investigation shows that police responded to a residence in Polson around 8 a.m. on Friday morning after receiving a 911 call that contained sounds of an altercation in the background.
Upon arrival, Russell said Polson Police officer Anthony Dentler witnessed the alleged victim, a woman who is apparently Finley's ex-girlfriend, in an upstairs window, screaming and pounding on the glass. During a subsequent interview, the alleged victim said that Finley broke into her home, woke her up, and hit and strangled her while she held her 2-year old child. Finley is the father of the baby.
Asst. Polson Police Chief John Stevens said Finley escaped the scene before being apprehended in a pickup truck. Officers determined he was extremely intoxicated.
Finley appeared in Judge Chuck Wall's justice court on Monday and is currently being held on $50,000 bond for Friday's incident.
The suspect had been released from jail in January after posting $5,000 bond, and his release in that case was revoked Monday by District Court Judge C.B. McNeil for violating the terms of his release. He had been held on a felony charge of sexual intercourse without consent after allegedly having sex with the same alleged victim's 13-year old cousin in August 2009.
Finley has a prior conviction for first offense partner family member assault from March 2009. Originally charged with felony aggravated assault, Finley pleaded to the lesser offense and served 105 days in the Lake County Jail as a result of the conviction. The affidavit from the case states that in March 2008, Finley assaulted his then-girlfriend, who was five months pregnant with their child at the time. She reported that he had punched and kicked her in the stomach during the incident, and she was subsequently hospitalized.