A Kalispell man has been charged with sexually assaulting a 5-year old girl less than a year after the Montana Supreme Court overturned his 40-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl in 2010.

Thomas Richard Nichols, 26, was booked into the Flathead County Detention Center on Dec. 11 for sexual intercourse without consent. He faces between four and 100 years in prison if convicted.

According to court documents, on Dec. 2 the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a sexual assault of a 5-year old girl. A detective interviewed the girl’s mother, who said that the child had stayed the night at Nichols’ home several times since June.

The girl had told the mother that Nichols touched her inappropriately.

A forensic interview was conducted and the girl gave more specific details about the alleged abuse.

Nichols remains in jail.

He is serving a 10-year suspended sentence that resulted from a plea agreement in August. The plea deal came after the Montana Supreme Court remanded a December 2011 conviction for sexual assault and sexually intercourse without consent.

A jury had found that Nichols had molested a 9-year-old girl while her family was in the other room. He offered to pay her $10 to let him continue the sexual contact but she refused.

Nichols admitted during trial to writing a note and giving it to another inmate to give to someone who had access to the victim. The note read:

“Noah is bringing you this note to tell you to let you know that it is very very important to get (the victim) alone and — make sure she knows she is being recorded — record her saying that none of this crap happened. And if you can get her to tell you her parents are making her say these things. This would break the case!!!”

The high court found that Nichols’ conviction was invalid because it was inappropriate for prosecutors to question Nichols’ girlfriend about the couple’s sexual behaviors. The prosecution claimed that there was nothing wrong with the questioning because Nichols had opened the door to the questions by saying that there was no reason he would need to molest a child because of his healthy sex life with his girlfriend.

“While defense counsel’s opening remarks about Nichols’ active sex life with [the girlfriend] may have opened the door to some scrutiny about the truth of that statement, the state’s questioning about the details of the couple’s variant sexual practices was inflammatory and unfairly prejudicial,” Montana Supreme Court Justice Jim Rice wrote. “The District Court attempted to keep the questioning ‘within a certain range,’ but the state, given an inch, took a mile.”

Bond for Nichols has been set at $300,000. Nichols will be arraigned before Flathead District Judge Heidi Ulbricht on Jan. 7. Flathead District Judge David Ortley will hear a petition for an order of protection against Nichols on Dec. 22.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.