Trial is ordered in attempted rape case

SANDPOINT — A Ponderay man was ordered Wednesday to stand trial for committing battery with intent to commit rape.

Bud Garland Dazey is scheduled to be arraigned on the felony offense in 1st District Court next month. Dazey is free on $10,000 bail while the case is pending, according to court documents.

Dazey, 39, is accused of attacking a 24-year-old woman at her Sandpoint home on Sept. 15. The two were longtime, platonic friends, according to court documents.

The alleged victim testified during a preliminary hearing on Wednesday that she invited Dazey over to eat pizza with her and her two children, who are 1 and 5 years old.

The woman told the court Dazey forced her into a bedroom and attempted to remove her clothing, according to hearing testimony. She testified that she delivered several strategic knee strikes during the struggle, forcefully objected to Dazey’s alleged advances and repeatedly asked him what he was doing.

The alleged victim testified that she wriggled from under Dazey and left the room. Dazey’s pursuit ended when she took up her infant son, court documents indicate, Dazey, she testified, was apologetic in the wake of the incident.

Dazey did not testify, but told Sandpoint Police that he was playfully roughhousing with the woman, whom he accused of being drunk at the time.

Dazey’s defense counsel, Sandpoint attorney Bruce Greene argued that there was insufficient evidence to sustain the felony battery charge and no evidence of an attempt to rape, court records show. Judge Debra Heise disagreed, finding that Dazey’s alleged attempts to remove her clothing were sufficient to bind him over to stand trial in district court,