Battery suspect waives hearing

SANDPOINT — A Montana man accused of beating a Bonner County man into unconsciousness two years ago waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Wednesday.

Leonard Levi Peak Jr. was released on his own recognizance after entering the waiver, according to court documents. He is charged with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.

Peak’s arraignment in 1st District Court is pending.

Peak, 41, of Arlee, is accused of attacking a 49-year-old man at an Upper Pack River home in July 2008. Peak was being sought for arrest following the beating, but later turned up at a medium-security federal lockup in northern California, where he was serving time for probation violations, U.S. District Court records indicate.

Peak was returned to Idaho this month to face the felony battery charge.

A 50-year-old woman who witnessed the attack told a sheriff’s deputy that Peak and another woman were invited to the alleged victim’s home off Lois Lane and were drinking.

The second woman, Jami Sue Judson, made sexual advances on the victim, which apparently sent Peak into a rage, the report said.

The witness told the deputy that Judson then attacked her, but the two agreed to take the victim to Bonner General Hospital. The witness said Judson assaulted her while en route to the hospital and again once they reached their destination, the report said.

Judson, also 41, was arrested for the battery on the witness and for obstruction when she attempted to leave the hospital after being told repeatedly to stay put. In an agreement with the state, Judson pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and the obstruction charge was dismissed, court documents indicate.

Peak was later picked up on probation violations in a federal case in which he was indicted for aiding and abetting the burglary of the Warpath Smoke Shop on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation in 2006. The indictment alleged Peak, a Native American, served as the getaway vehicle’s wheelman.

He was ordered to serve 10 months at a federal prison in Herlong, Calif. He was released in February, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Prisons.