Trial ordered in rape case

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man was ordered Wednesday to stand trial for a violent rampage in which one woman suffered great bodily harm and another woman was choked and raped.

Judge Justin Julian found there was probable cause that Joshua James Lee Howell committed aggravated assault, aggravated battery, rape and attempted strangulation.

Julian called the allegations “serious and disturbing” and said Howell’s $100,000 bail was “woefully inadequate” and raised the sum to $500,000.

Julian found there was justification for a trial in 1st District Court after Howell’s former girlfriend and one of her friends testified about their ordeals on the night of Oct. 21, 2010, in Sunnyside.

Neither the prosecution nor the defense offered any argument before Julian issued his rulings. Howell, who invoked his right to remain silent during the preliminary hearing, is scheduled to be arraigned on March 21.

A 53-year-old friend of Howell’s girlfriend told the court that an irate Howell threw her backward off a porch and wrenched her arm, which dislocated her elbow.

“Then all hell broke loose,” the woman said, describing how the alleged attack moved indoors, where Howell’s girlfriend and her two children were.

The woman testified in vivid detail how Howell proceeded to threaten to kill everybody in the home and then himself, vowing that nobody would leave the home alive. Howell then allegedly focused his rage toward his now-estranged 34-year-old girlfriend.

The woman told the court that she witnessed Howell choke his former girlfriend into unconsciousness at least five times and pistol whip her with a pellet gun.

“The kids were begging for their mother’s life,” she said.

The alleged rampage occurred over a span of several hours. Howell had confiscated mobile phones in the home and hidden the home’s land-line phone, which prevented anybody from summoning help.

The incident culminated with Howell allegedly taking his ex-girlfriend into a bedroom and raping her, according to the witness testimony.

The former girlfriend, who fought to maintain her composure on the stand, said the sex was against her will and saw it as the only way to calm the situation.

“I just wanted things to stop and my kids to be safe,” she said.