SANDPOINT — A preliminary hearing is pending in a case against a Bonner County man accused of threatening another man with a handgun during a child custody exchange last summer.

Dewayne Newton Adkins is charged with aggravated assault. Adkins made an initial appearance in magistrate court on Friday. Adkins applied for a public defender, but Judge Barbara Buchanan declined to appoint one because he is not indigent, court records show.

Adkins, 38, pulled a gun on another man at Adkins’ Hoodoo Valley home on June 21, according to charging papers. The alleged victim went to the home with Adkins’ former wife and another of her children.

The alleged victim told Bonner County sheriff’s deputies that Adkins became enraged during the exchange, drew a gun and threatened to shoot him, a probable cause affidavit states. In fear of his and his companions’ safety, the man, an off-duty corrections officer in Washington

state, accessed his sidearm, but kept it hidden from Adkins’ view.

The man told deputies he repeatedly told Adkins to drop the gun, backed away in an attempt to de-escalate the situation and called authorities.

Adkins, the affidavit said, admitted having a BB gun during the confrontation, but denied threatening the other man with it.

The confrontation took place the day before a settlement was reached in divorce proceedings between Adkins and the mother of his child, according to the Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository.

A hearing to determine if there’s enough evidence to justify trying Adkins for the felony offense is set for Jan. 2, 2013.