Battery charge filed against murder suspect

SANDPOINT - A Sagle man accused of murder has been charged with a battery that authorities believe is linked to the fatal shooting of Eli Holt.

The misdemeanor charge was inexplicably filed more than two months after the fact and two weeks after James M. Anderson shot Holt to death with a .44 magnum on Thanksgiving night.

Anderson, 28, is being held at the Bonner County Jail with bail set at $500,000. A preliminary hearing on the first-degree murder charge is set for next week. Hearings on the lesser charge are pending.

Sandpoint Police recommended earlier this month that Anderson be charged with battery after a witness positively identified him as an accomplice in a beating in the Unicep Packaging parking lot on Oct. 1, according to court documents.

The 29-year-old victim told police he was seated in his vehicle when someone reached in and grabbed him by the throat. He believed it was a joke until the man's grip tightened, a police report said.

Anderson is suspected of being the person who restrained the victim while another man, Patrick Keith Eroso Ziarnick, unleashed a barrage of punches. At one point during attack, Anderson allegedly moved into the back seat and put another choke hold on the victim as the beating ensued, a police report said.

The victim suspected the battery was retaliation for dating Ziarnick's girlfriend. He further suspected Anderson was involved because he was Ziarnick's roommate at the time and also because Anderson is related by marriage to the woman, the report said.

Ziarnick, also 29, was charged after several witnesses identified him as one of the assailants. He is scheduled to be tried on the battery charge next month.

Holt was apparently a close personal friend of the battery victim. Bonner County Sheriff's Det. Sgt. Howard Burke has testified in the murder case that Holt and a half brother may have gone to Anderson's home on the night of the slaying to confront him about his role in the attack at Unicep.

Holt, 30, was shot in the head during an argument outside Anderson's home on Nov. 27. Anderson allegedly told Burke he meant to frighten Holt into leaving and forgot the pistol was cocked, according to probable cause hearing testimony.