Plea agreement loses traction

SANDPOINT — A Montana man accused of leading a Bonner County Sheriff’s deputy on a high-speed chase and ramming a patrol vehicle is mulling his options after a district judge declined to adopt the terms of a proposed plea agreement.

Tyson Michael Pieper was scheduled to be sentenced on Monday, but Judge John Patrick Luster advised the defendant that he was unwilling to go along with the plea deal, which proposes a suspended prison sentence, home detention and probation.

Another hearing in Pieper’s case is planned for July.

Pieper, 35, of Noxon, was charged with eluding and aggravated assault on law enforcement following a chase through eastern Bonner County and into Montana on June 20, 2008.

Charging papers allege speeds reached 90 mph in 35- and 45-mph speed zones on River Road. Pieper is further accused of ramming Deputy Clint Mattingley’s patrol vehicle at least twice during the pursuit.

Pieper eluded the deputy on a dusty side road after the pursuit crossed into Montana, but his escape was short-lived, according to the deputy’s report.

Pieper filed a police report claiming his Ford pickup was taken from outside a Clark Fork tavern on the day of the chase, but Mattingley identified him as the driver involved in the chase. The truck was later found near the Cabinet Gorge Hatchery.

The proposed plea agreement called for Pieper to plead to the eluding charge in exchange for the dismissal of the assault charge.

More than $7,000 in restitution to the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office is also proposed.