Trial nears in battery case linked to slaying

SANDPOINT — A Sagle man is scheduled to stand trial next week for an alleged attack which reportedly sowed the seeds for an armed confrontation which claimed the life of a Sandpoint man.

James Matthew Anderson’s one-day jury trial on a misdemeanor battery charge is scheduled for Thursday, April 9, in the magistrate division of 1st District Court.

Anderson and Patrick Keith Eroso Ziarnick allegedly blitzed a Sandpoint man as he sat in his vehicle and smoked a cigarette on Oct. 1, 2008. Anderson, according to police reports, restrained Justin Stuart Hines in the seat while Ziarnick unleashed a volley of blows.

Hines, a 29-year-old Bonner County resident, is described as a close personal friend of Joseph Elvin “Eli” Holt, whom Anderson shot to death during an alleged altercation outside Anderson’s home nearly two months later.

Holt, 30, was shot in the head with a .44-caliber pistol wielded by Anderson on Nov. 27, 2008.

Holt was reportedly a close personal friend of Hines and went to Anderson’s home to confront him about the earlier attack in the Unicep Packaging parking lot.

Anderson, also 29, was charged with first-degree murder, but a judge later reduced the charge to murder in the second degree because there was insufficient evidence to show the shooting was premeditated.

Accounts conflict as to the nature of the altercation outside Anderson’s home at the Travel America trailer park. At a preliminary hearing earlier this year, state’s witnesses testified the confrontation was strictly verbal, while defense witnesses said it was physical.

Anderson’s trial on the murder charge is planned for July.

Although a jury of six is set to decide Anderson’s guilt or innocence in the underlying battery case, court records indicate there is a resolution proposal on the table. City Prosecutor Lori Meulenberg has agreed to waive sentencing recommendations if Anderson pleads guilty.

Anderson remains jailed in lieu of $200,000 bail.

Ziarnick, 30, pleaded guilty to his role in the battery on Hines and was sentenced to 20 days in jail.