MAN CONVICTED IN SHOOTING INCIDENT
January 22, 2017 at 6:45 pm | Daily Inter Lake
A man was convicted on Jan. 12 of felony criminal endangerment for allegations that he shot at a newspaper delivery driver at the end of May.
Michael John Ince, 33, entered an Alford plea as part of a plea agreement in which a felony assault with a weapon charge was amended. An Alford plea allows a defendant to assert his or her innocence, but acknowledges that he or she is likely to be found guilty at trial. It convicts an individual.
Ince was arrested on May 27 after a newspaper delivery driver for the Daily Inter Lake called 911 at 4 a.m. to report that Ince had fired a shot at him as he drove his delivery route on Anderson Lane and Conrad Drive.
Deputies found two suspects in the reported vehicle and Ince allegedly admitted firing a shot.
Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said Ince told investigators that he had fired a warning shot to get the delivery driver to stop driving recklessly.
Ince and a woman previously were wanted in connection with a Sept. 30, 2015, road-rage shooting incident at Hutton Ranch Plaza off U.S. 93, but investigators at the Kalispell Police Department never charged anyone in that case because the victim stopped cooperating with investigators.
The plea agreement recommends a five-year suspended sentence to the Montana Department of Corrections. Ince will be sentenced in April.
