Hearing pending in stabbing case

SANDPOINT — A preliminary hearing is pending in the case of a Sandpoint man accused of stabbing another man who attempted to stop him from driving home drunk from a house party earlier this month.

Bobby Daniel Adams is charged with aggravated battery. A preliminary hearing to determine if there's sufficient evidence to try Adams on the felony offense is scheduled for April 21 in Bonner County Magistrate Court.

Adams, 38, is accused of stabbing the man in the abdomen during a confrontation outside a home in the foothills of the Selkirk Mountains north of Sandpoint on March 20. The man survived the alleged attack after witnesses were able to immediately render first aid, a probable cause affidavit indicates.

Witnesses told Bonner County sheriff's deputies that Adams got into a verbal argument with the man, an altercation which allegedly escalated to shoving, the affidavit alleges. Witnesses said the two began to wrestle on the ground and Adams allegedly threatened to kill and stab the other man.

The alleged victim yelled that he had been stabbed while grappling with Adams, prompting one of the witnesses to jump on Adams's back and punch him to break up the alleged knife attack, according to the affidavit.

Adams left the scene on foot and was found by a deputy attempting to scale a band of granite cliffs near the home, the affidavit said. Adams was apprehended without further incident.

Accounts of the stabbing clashed, according to court documents. One witness described the stabbing as a prison-style "shanking," while Adams described it as an accident that occurred when somebody pushed him into the alleged victim while holding the knife.

Adams told deputies he was in the process of transferring the folding knife from a coat pocket to a pants pocket as a crowd of people converged on him. Adams, however, was unable to explain why the blade of the knife was extended while he was moving it from one pocket to the other, the affidavit said.

A folding Buck knife with a 3-inch blade, which was apparently stained with blood, was founded in brush near the site of the alleged attacked. Adams told deputies that the knife flew from his hand after he was pushed again while departing the scene on foot, the affidavit said.

Adams is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail and a public defender has been appointed to represent him, court records show. If convicted of the felony battery charge, Adams faces up to 15 years in prison, according to Idaho Code.

Adams is being prosecuted as a persistent violator due to prior felony convictions in Bonner County for drug possession and injury to a child, an addendum to a criminal complaint states. If convicted of the underlying offense, the charging enhancement could add 15 years to life in prison to his sentence, court records show.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and followed on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.