Assault case is resolved

SANDPOINT — A peculiar felony assault case drew to an anticlimactic close on Monday.

Paul Fagerlie Finman pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace for using a tractor to dismantle an occupied home on his property in Vay in 2010.

The three occupants fled the home and Finman was charged with three counts of aggravated assault.

Finman, 56, was to be tried this week in 1st District Court, but the prosecution and the defense negotiated a settlement that amended one of the counts and dismissed the other two.

The alleged victims in the case were unavailable testify at trial, according to Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall. Marshall said the family’s patriarch, a dyed-in-the-wool sovereign citizen, declined to let his wife and two children testify because he does not acknowledge the legitimacy of Idaho’s government.

Marshall called Finman’s conduct “reckless, criminal and inappropriate,” but noted that nobody was hurt during the episode.

“They were simply scared,” said Marshall.

Finman entered his plea and Judge Benjamin Simpson imposed a sentence of 180 days in jail, with 178 days suspended and credit for two days Finman already served. He was also ordered to pay more than $400 in fines and court costs.

Simpson placed Finman on unsupervised probation for 60 days and granted a withheld judgment. If he successfully fulfills all his court-ordered obligations, Finman can petition the court to strike the conviction from his criminal record.

“It was a very bizarre situation,” Finman said of his entanglement with Alexander Duncan Campbell, who was being evicted from the property at the time of the incident.

Campbell was not home when Finman used the lift tongs on a tractor to pierce through the walls of the modest home, but Campbell’s wife and minor children were. They told authorities they fled fearing for their lives.

The defense disputed the degree of fear the occupants experienced, pointing out that they made repeated phone calls and his daughter remained in the home to document the destruction with a camera.

Finman described his ordeal as a drawn-out nightmare that lasted 18 months.

“This has been a substantial stress in his life,” said Jeremy Featherston, Finman’s defense counsel.

The whereabouts of Campbell and his family were not known on Monday. Campbell is wanted on arrest warrants from Kootenai and Nez Perce counties for motor vehicle-related violations and possession of a concealed weapon without a permit.

The case put the county in the awkward position of prosecuting a law-abiding entrepreneur in order to represent a family whose patriarch identifies with a subculture that has no regard for municipal, state or federal government. The FBI labels sovereigns as an “extremist anti-government group.”

Finman has sharply criticized the county for prosecuting him and accused officials of providing a safe haven for extremists. Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank and Sheriff Daryl Wheeler rejected those claims and made no apologies for their handling of the case.

“It was a pretty troubling case for both sides,” said Simpson, who did not elaborate.