No charges will be filed against the man who violently stabbed another man in Evergreen on Friday because he was acting in self-defense, Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan said Tuesday.

Corrigan instead decided to continue an investigation after 28-year-old Kyle Puckett’s claim of self-defense was corroborated by evidence and video footage.

 Corrigan said the video shows that 27-year-old Carl Scott “Scotty” Lamar initiated the fight by jumping Puckett from behind.

He said Puckett admitted when he was arrested that he had stabbed Lamar, but only after being assaulted and after Lamar brandished a knife of his own, which Puckett described in some detail. That knife was found by emergency responders on the ground next to Lamar.

Corrigan and Sheriff Chuck Curry said surveillance video was gathered from local businesses.

“They found two which showed Puckett and Lamar prior to and during the fight,” Corrigan said.

The first video from a surveillance camera at Lane’s Conoco shows both men with a woman who, according to Corrigan, was buying Puckett a beer. After they walked out of the frame as they crossed Montana 35, they were picked up on a second camera at a casino as they walked toward the trailer court where the fight occurred.

“As Puckett describes, on this videotape you see Lamar attacking Puckett from the rear, knocking him to the ground, and proceed to assault him quite violently,” Corrigan said. “And the fight continues for, oh, approximately 20 or 30 seconds. It’s a pretty good fight. Then the video shows Puckett walking away and Lamar falling to the ground.”

In addition to video evidence, Corrigan said he knows of at least two witnesses who saw the fight take place. He added that several motorists could be seen in the video driving past both during and after the fight, but no one stopped.

Corrigan estimated Lamar was on the ground for between five and 10 minutes before emergency responders arrived.

Lamar suffered substantial loss of blood and never regained consciousness.

While he would only describe Lamar’s condition by saying he was still alive and on life support, Corrigan noted that Puckett could have faced a homicide charge.

Corrigan said if the investigation can prove that Lamar never brandished a knife, Puckett will be charged with mitigated deliberate homicide.

“It is incumbent upon us to continue the investigation and see what additional details we can come up with that would either corroborate his story or disprove it,” Corrigan said. “So we’re not going to file charges at this point.”

He said Puckett will not continue to be held in jail, although Corrigan’s office is petitioning to revoke Puckett’s release in a drug case for which he is awaiting a Feb. 19 sentencing.

Puckett previously pleaded guilty by way of Alford to felony criminal possession of precursors to dangerous drugs.

That revocation is based on witness statements and Puckett’s own admission that he smoked marijuana in the days preceding the assault and that he was having the woman buy him a beer. Corrigan said the revocation request would be filed by the end of the day Tuesday.

Corrigan also addressed speculation about why Puckett was out of jail in the first place.

“It’s not uncommon for somebody who pleads guilty to a nonviolent felony to be released pending sentencing, particularly in this case where he did not have a prior felony record and no history of any significant violence,” he said. There was “nothing in his background or history as we knew it to suggest that he was a threat to anybody, and, as I said a minute ago, he didn’t start the fight.”

He said the assault investigation likely would have “no role to play” in Puckett’s sentencing.

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.