A Flathead County District Court Judge denied bail reduction on Tuesday for a man accused of a stabbing south of Kalispell on Dec. 28, 2015.

In her denial of the request by Robert Wayne Snide Jr. to be released on his own recognizance, Judge Amy Eddy cited his long criminal history and the fact that he did not have a place to live. He was being held on $75,000 bond for a felony count of assault with a weapon.

Snide’s attorney Timothy Wenz argued for Snide’s release. Snide testified that he had been in the Flathead Valley since April 2015 after his wife had overdosed. Snide claimed to have been working for a masonry business and a construction business during that time. Wenz asked for Snide’s release because his girlfriend is pregnant with his child and was recently evicted. She is unemployed and living in the couple’s car.

“He is the sole bread-winner for that family,” Wenz said.

Snide said the pair didn’t have a place to live if he was released.

During the hearing, Snide detailed his long criminal history and gave excuses or explanations for each of his prior convictions.

He received his first felony assault with a weapon conviction at age 18 for “poking” his sleeping 12-year-old cousin in the back with a kitchen knife. Snide said he had been severely beaten and intoxicated the night before and that he thought the cousin sleeping on the floor of his house was the assailant who had injured him.

Snide also admitted that he had been convicted of operating a methamphetamine lab and of larceny of a building in Michigan in 2011. Court records show that Snide stopped reporting to probation and parole in Michigan in 2012.

Snide said he left Michigan in 2012 because the economy had tanked and he was tempted to fall in with the wrong crowd again.

“I’ve been wanting to take care of it,” Snide said of the felony fugitive warrant for his arrest from Michigan.

Prosecutor Stacy Boman didn’t buy that argument. Snide was booked into the Flathead County jail on Nov. 21, 2015, and posted $5,000 bond for the fugitive warrant. He could have returned to Michigan to take care of the warrant then, but he did not.

Instead, he was allegedly found in possession of stolen property on Dec. 1, 2015, Boman said. A felony theft charge is pending before Flathead District Judge David Ortley in that case.

Boman said that it also was not encouraging that after being picked up on the warrant, on Dec. 28 a man allegedly was stabbed a man at a residence south of Kalispell by Snide. Wenz argued that Snide was assaulted by the victim and alluded that a self-defense defense might be in play.

Wenz pointed out that the victim is “no angel” and has his own criminal history. Snide testified that he had originally wanted to be the victim’s friend, but that the victim saw him “as a challenge.”

Flathead County Sheriff’s Det. Josh Buls testified that many community members had contacted the Sheriff’s Office voicing opposition to Snide being released. He has been charged with numerous misdemeanor thefts. Buls said that he guesses Snide has dealt with law enforcement at least 20 times since his arrival in the area.

“I think Mr. Snide’s criminal history is quite alarming and quite telling,” Boman testified and asked that bond remain in place. Another $50,000 bond is in place in the theft case, with a hearing on reducing it set for Thursday.

Regardless of whether Snide’s bond is reduced then, he won’t get out of jail any time soon.

The governor of Michigan has issued a warrant for his arrest that mandates he be held without bond until his issues are resolved in that state. He will be transported immediately following the resolution of his cases here, Buls testified.

Snide’s trial in the stabbing case is tentatively set for July.

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