St. Ignatius man sentenced following domestic incident
courtesy photo
James McGuire
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POLSON – A 34-year-old St. Ignatius man was given a combined five-year deferred sentence last week for an amended charge of criminal endangerment and three violations of a protection order.
James J. McGuire was given credit for 49 days in jail. Five counts of violating a protection order were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
He was originally charged with assault with a weapon and stalking following a May 28 incident in which he allegedly initiated a fight with a woman, restrained her from leaving a bedroom, threw her onto a bed, damaged her cell phone, pointed a gun at his head and threatened to commit suicide, screamed at the woman and berated her over a two-hour time period. According to a court document, McGuire fired a gun at an unopened window, and law enforcement found a shell casing from a .45-caliber gun on a bedroom floor.
The protection order violations were related to two July incidents after he was served with a five-year order of protection on June 20.
On July 20, McGuire found the woman at McDonald Lake based on her Facebook posts and spoke to her. According to a court document, the woman tried to ignore him and left with her dogs but McGuire followed her on a motorcycle. GPS data supports that he was at McDonald Lake at the time indicated by the woman, the document states.
McGuire was arrested again on July 26 following a July 23 incident in which he allegedly came to the woman’s workplace to talk to her in violation of a protection order. He also allegedly sent her Facebook messages twice on July 21, seven times on July 22, and called her twice and texted her 11 times on July 23.
Two charges of assault with a weapon and misdemeanor criminal mischief were dismissed as part of a plea agreement. Those charges were related to an April 3, 2016 incident in which he allegedly entered a woman’s home in Charlo in the early morning hours, went into a bedroom and found the woman with her paramour, took McGuire’s .45-caliber gun from a dresser, operated the slide and threatened the man and woman with it. The woman got McGuire to leave the home, but he then allegedly shot a hole through the door of the paramour’s 2008 Chevy Impala. A bullet was later found under a seat in that vehicle, and a .45-caliber gun was found in McGuire’s pickup, a court document states.
