Judgment stands in felony assault case

SANDPOINT — A 1st District judge is rejecting a former Bonner County man’s effort to have a felony conviction wiped from his record.

Counsel for Gary Lee Warren argued his aggravated assault conviction should be dismissed because he has fulfilled all of his court-ordered obligations and has an otherwise clean criminal record.

Bonner County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank objected, arguing that blotting out the conviction would be incompatible with the public interest because of the severity of the offense.

Warren, 44, was charged with attempted strangulation and felony domestic violence in the presence of children in 2008.

Charging papers alleged that Warren picked up his girlfriend by the throat, threw her onto the counter and pummeled her face.

The charges were subsequently amended to a single count of aggravated assault and Warren pleaded guilty, according to court documents. Judge Steve Verby imposed a suspended one- to three-year prison sentence placed him on four  years of supervised probation.

Warren successfully moved to have his probation changed from supervised to unsupervised, court records show.

The victim in the case moved to have a no-contact order extended, alleging that Warren was not remorseful about his misconduct and told her she got what she deserved.

In a Dec. 6 written ruling, Verby noted that Warren was already shown leniency when the terms of his probation were modified and held that a dismissal was not compatible with the public’s interest.

“Such a dismissal would undermine the deterrent effect of the judgment of conviction and the sentence imposed to both Mr. Warren and others in the community who would commit similar crimes,” Verby wrote.