Man jailed on kidnapping charge

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man is facing a suite of criminal charges for allegedly kidnapping his wife and threatening her with a stun gun and a survival knife during a domestic dispute that spanned from Cocolalla to Sandpoint on Monday.

Terrance Michael Finnerty Jr. is charged with aggravated assault, second-degree kidnapping, domestic assault and domestic battery. A fifth charge of using a conductive energy device in the commission of a felony remains under investigation, according to court documents.

Finnerty, 37, denied all the allegations and told a sheriff’s deputy that he was the victim in the dispute, a probable cause affidavit states.

Finnerty made an initial court appearance on Tuesday in magistrate court, where Judge Lori Meulenberg set his bail $34,000, records show. Meulenberg also entered an order forbidding Finnerty from contacting the alleged victim.

Finnerty made suicidal remarks during the hearing and said the criminal charges against him were trumped up, court documents indicate.

The woman told a deputy that Finnerty demanded to be taken to Sandpoint, but she refused and Finnerty allegedly attacked her. The woman said Finnerty got on top of her and threatened to kill her if she did not stop screaming.

Finnerty, the affidavit said, was wearing a survival knife.

The woman attempted to leave in a Jeep sport utility vehicle, but Finnerty smashed its driver’s side window with a rock and got into the rig’s passenger seat. Finnerty allegedly held a stun gun to her side and told her he would kill her if she did not give him a ride to town.

The woman drove to Sandpoint Super 1 because it was public place and fled the vehicle. A concerned passerby phoned authorities and Sandpoint Police responded to a report of a weapons offense, court records indicate.