Trial set in aggravated battery case
SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man implicated in a brawl outside a Clark Fork bar that left a Hope man with a broken collarbone was ordered Thursday to stand trial.
Judge William C. Hamlett ruled during a preliminary hearing there was sufficient evidence to justify trying Adam Oliver Finney on a charge of aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm and disfigurement. The ruling followed the testimony of the alleged victim and a witness to the multiple-combatant clash outside the Cabinet Mountain Bar & Grill in the early morning hours of April 22, 2017.
Adam Finney’s father, Rex, was charged with aiding and abetting in the battery and allegedly kicking the man in the face. However, the elder Finney pleaded guilty on Wednesday to two misdemeanor counts of disturbing the peace. Rex Finney’s position as a local attorney prompted the appointment of a Kootenai County prosecutor to sidestep any appearance of a conflict of interest with the local prosecutor’s office.
The younger Finney, 21, invoked his right to remain silent during the two-hour hearing in Bonner County Magistrate Court. He is free on a $5,000 bond while awaiting arraignment in 1st District Court.
The alleged victim, 28, testified that he had exchanged words with Rex Finney earlier in the evening and was sitting outside the tavern when Adam Finney approached him several hours later and challenged him to a fight.
As the verbal altercation escalated, the man testified he was blindsided by an unknown assailant, went to the ground and received repeated kicks and blows. “I was hit and kicked by multiple people and I just tried to cover my face,” the man testified, adding that Adam Finney was one of the people who targeted his collarbone.
But under cross-examination by Adam Finney’s counsel, Kevin Curtis, used surveillance and interview footage to contradict the man’s memory of the incident. The man testified that the altercation escalated from verbal to physical when his friend was blindsided first.
Video footage, however, appeared the show the brawl started when another man advanced on Adam Finney and pushed him down, touching off the melee between the two groups. The alleged victim’s beating, meanwhile, occurred just outside the frame of the camera.
Mandy Eagle testified that she witnessed the alleged victim being pummeled and kicked.
Kootenai County Deputy Prosecutor Laura McClinton argued the state had demonstrated that it was more likely than not Adam Finney had committed the offense or aided and abetted others in its commission.
“For the purposes of preliminary hearing, we have sustained our burden,” she said.
Curtis argued that glaring discrepancies between the alleged victim’s statements and the video evidence showed a shifting narrative.
“It has all the hallmarks of a fabricated story,” said Curtis, who pointed out that the video showed that the brawl began with his client being shoved to the ground.
However, Hamlett ruled that the testimony was sufficient to bind Adam Finney over to stand trial.
“I do find each of the witnesses is credible,” Hamlett said.
Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.