Metzger avoids jail
Allen Metzger (red shirt) and his attorney Lance Jasper stand before Judge Nels Swandel during Metzger's change of plea hearing Monday afternoon. Metzger pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of negligent homicide; he had originally been charged with deliberate homicide.
POLSON - Nine months after fatally stabbing James Finch in a Ronan bar, Allen Metzger learned he will not spend any time in prison.
Judge Nels Swandal sentenced Metzger, 53, to a four year suspended sentence Monday after he pleaded guilty to negligent homicide, a felony, in early April.
Metzger was initially charged with deliberate homicide after he fatally stabbed James Finch, 50, at the Valley Club Bar in Ronan on Aug. 16, 2009. Metzger spent 101 days in county jail before being released on $50,000 bond in November 2009.
Metzger has maintained self defense from day one, and much of the evidence seems to show that may have been the case. Lance P. Jasper, Metzger's attorney, painted a picture of Finch as a bully out to get Metzger. In his sentencing memorandum, which asked for a three-year suspended sentence, Jasper named witnesses that corroborated that story. He also described surveillance video evidence, which showed Finch follow Metzger into the bathroom, where the stabbing took place. Metzger has claimed that Finch attacked him in the restroom, and had bruises to show for it. The knife, which had a five-inch blade, was used in self-defense, Metzger and his attorney said.
After Metzger pleaded in April, county prosecutor Mitch Young admitted the circumstances of the incident made it a tough case to win at trial.
"One of the potential problems of the case from the beginning was the new law putting the burden on the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it wasn't self defense," he said, referring to Montana House Bill No. 228. "The defendant may have been entitled to use force, but was negligent in using a weapon in the manner he did."