Trial ordered in beating case

SANDPOINT - A Sandpoint man is being ordered to stand trial for felony battery despite an uncooperative victim and witnesses.

Timothy "Bear" Grant Larson is scheduled to be arraigned on an aggravated battery charge in 1st District Court on Dec. 15. He remains held with bail set at $100,000.

Larson, 30, was charged following a Feb. 29 altercation in which the victim was allegedly sucker punched, knifed and repeatedly kicked in the head as he lay unconscious. The alleged attack occurred in Ponderay.

Adam Rew Carash, 27, was also implicated in attack, but the charge against him was later reduced to misdemeanor battery and he pled out. Both Larson and Carash have both been accused of wielding the knife and the state has since abandoned the weapon component of the charge against Larson.

The victim, Sidney Wayne Kelley, took the stand at Larson's preliminary hearing on Wednesday and testified that Carash was the one who stabbed him in the abdomen moments before he was knocked unconscious by a blindsided blow to the face.

"I don't know exactly who hit me, but I know who stabbed me," said Kelley, 49.

Immediately prior to the assault, Kelley said he was standing alone next to a car as his neighbor talked with Larson. Kelley was vague about what brought Larson and Carash to his neighborhood and said he could not hear what his neighbor and Larson were talking about because he was some distance away.

The neighbor, Fabian Rebeterano, reportedly told Ponderay Police he had thrown Larson out of his home for an unspecified reason earlier in the day and had come back to confront him.

However, Rebeterano took the stand and said he had little or no memory of the incident or his statements to police because he was at the time intoxicated.

"I'm not really sure exactly what happened, so I can't really say," said Rebeterano, 30.

Another witness, 19-year-old Kenneth Abey, testified he arrived at the scene moments before the violence began.

"The mood around everything was a fighting mood," Abey said.

Abey recalled seeing Kelley advancing on Larson and Carash telling him to back off. Kelley then turned his attention to Carash, who Abey said landed a punch to Kelley's face and knocked him out. Larson and Carash took positions astride the prostrate Kelley and began booting him in the head, Abey testified.

As the attack subsided, Abey said he saw Larson reach down and punch Kelley somewhere below the neck and above the waist. Abey, however, testified that he saw no weapon.

Larson did not take the stand and his defense counsel, Coeur d'Alene attorney Larry Purviance, did not call any witnesses.

Purviance argued that there was no medical evidence presented to support the state's contention that Kelley suffered great bodily harm or permanent injury, which are necessary elements of the felony charge. Moreover, Kelley testified Larson was not in his immediate vicinity when the knockout blow was delivered.

"He stated that not only did Adam Carash stab him, but the same time his eye injury occurred - he's very definite on that - Mr. Larson was at least 20 feet, maybe 30 feet, maybe even 40 feet away at the time he was struck," Purviance said.

Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank disputed that the showing of harm and permanent injury had not been accomplished.

"The testimony that we've elicited here today does precisely that," said Greenbank.

A photograph of Kelley's facial injuries was admitted into evidence and Greenbank cited Kelley's testimony that he still has impaired vision as a result of the attack. There was also unrebutted testimony that Larson was seen kicking Kelley in the face.

In the court's analysis of the testimony, Judge Justin Julian found Kelley's remarks "evasive" and said they fell short of telling the whole story of the incident. Julian said he regarded Rebeterano's testimony the least credible and Abey's the most.

"Mr. Abey did simply testify as to what he saw on Feb. 29. He may not have seen everything that happened, but I do believe his testimony does accurately summarize what he did in fact see," Julian said.

Larson is being charged under Idaho's persistent violator statute due to two prior felony convictions for burglary and drug possession. If convicted of the battery charge, he could be imprisoned for life.