A Whitefish man stabbed by his wife during an argument in November died Sunday after being taken off of life support.

Chad Newton’s death now will change the charges against his wife.

Newton, 37, was hospitalized in critical condition on Nov. 25 after his wife, 39-year-old AnnMari Newton, stabbed him in the heart.

It was determined in December that Chad Newton was not going to improve. He has been in the intensive care unit at Kalispell Regional Medical Center since the stabbing.

On Saturday, Newton’s father ordered that life support be terminated after a judge on Friday gave him permission to make major medical decisions for his son.

Newton died shortly before 5 p.m. the following day, according to Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry. Curry noted that Chad was an organ donor.

AnnMari Newton initially was charged with felony assault with a weapon, but Flathead County Deputy Attorney Travis Ahner said he will file documents this week seeking to have that charge elevated to homicide.

Ahner said a decision has not yet been made about whether the requested charge will be deliberate homicide, mitigated deliberate homicide or negligent homicide.

“We’ll be looking at the specific facts with regards to the incident and what took place,” he said Tuesday.

Deliberate homicide carries a possible penalty of between 10 and 100 years or life in prison while the mitigated version is punishable by between two and 40 years in prison and a fine of $50,000. Negligent homicide is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $50,000.

Felony assault with a weapon carries the same possible penalty as negligent homicide.

Ahner also said the Flathead County Attorney’s Office also will seek an additional bond amount “based on the increased severity of the charges.”

AnnMari initially was incarcerated on a $75,000 bond, but that was later reduced to $25,000, which she posted.   

Her next hearing is currently set for March 5, although a new arraignment hearing will likely take place before that date.

Court documents allege AnnMari was holding a knife when she and her husband got into an argument in the kitchen of their home on O’Brien Avenue.

AnnMari later allegedly told police that she then “thrust the knife toward Chad and stabbed him,” the document states.

She then called 911. When officers arrived, they found her still on the phone with a dispatcher. She directed them to the kitchen, where they found Chad Newton on the floor, unresponsive and bleeding from the left side of his chest.

The couple’s two children were at home at the time of the incident. They were placed in the care of a family friend at the direction of Child Protective Services.

Newton, a citizen of Sweden, had to turn over her passport as a condition of her release from jail early last week.