Man pleads down in brutal Canyon assault

Hungry Horse News

A Hungry Horse man charged in the Sept. 6, 2003, brutal assault on Bill Matthews in the Deerlick Saloon parking lot has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

It's a case that doesn't sit well with the victim's family.

Brad Winters, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of felony criminal endangerment Jan. 21. District Court Judge Katherine Curtis accepted the plea.

Winters faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. He had pleaded not guilty to felony aggravated assault, which carried a 20-year maximum prison sentence.

The plea is similar to that of Karl Tallent, who was 17 when arrested in the Matthews attack but was prosecuted as an adult. Tallent pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of felony criminal endangerment Aug. 6.

Tallent was sentenced Sept. 24 to eight years in prison, with all eight years suspended on condition he successfully completes six months in boot camp. He was also ordered to pay $128,845 in restitution.

Matthews' family mounted an active investigation after the assault, eventually rounding up statements from 14 witnesses and prodding the Flathead County Sheriff's Office and the county attorney's office to pursue the case.

According to witness statements in court records, Matthews was seriously beaten during an altercation between Matthews and Alfred Sailer, on the one hand, and Tallent, Winters and Devon Chapel on the other. Some witnesses claimed Winters and Sailer held baseball bats and Chapel had a chrome pipe.

Several witnesses claimed Winters hit Matthews on the head with a metal baseball bat, and then Tallent struck Matthews with his fist.