Man jailed for contempt of court

SANDPOINT — A Priest River man was ordered Wednesday to serve seven days in jail for contempt of court after repeatedly refusing to comply with the court’s instructions during a preliminary hearing in Bonner County Magistrate Court.

Curtis Howard Kendle, who is facing methamphetamine possession charges, initially refused to pass through the bar separating the gallery from the rest of the courtroom. Kendle acquiesced, but refused to take a seat at the defense table and rattled off sovereign citizen arguments before being held in contempt and placed in handcuffs.

After a brief recess, an apologetic Kendle was brought back into the courtroom to learn his sentence.

“You’ve been trying to steer the ship here all day and that’s not the way it works and you need to understand that. This is a courtroom. You abide by the court’s proceedings and not the ones you find on the Internet or anywhere else,” Judge Justin Julian said.

Kendle, who is acting as his own legal counsel after firing his public defender, said being a pro se defendant is difficult.

“It’s very intimidating,” Kendle said. “There’s a lot on the line.”

Julian said he was unable to determine if Kendle’s apologies were genuine, but held that Kendle was politely and repeatedly asked to heed the court’s instructions.

“I try to be patient with people,” Julian said. “I tried to be as patient as I could with you. I warned you repeatedly. I practically begged you to just sit down and let us proceed like we did with every other case today as you saw. And you refused to do that.”

Julian ordered Kendle to serve three and half days for contempt in each of his two possession cases, resulting a seven-day sentence.

Kendle’s preliminary hearing was rescheduled for next Wednesday.