Hearing postponed in felony battery case
KEITH KINNAIRD | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 6 years, 9 months AGO
SANDPOINT — A preliminary hearing was postponed Wednesday for a Bonner County man accused of six felony offenses in connection with a home invasion in Sagle earlier this month.
The hearing in Peter Franklin Goullette’s case was reset for April 25. He remains held at the Bonner County Jail while the case is pending.
Goullette, 24, is charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault, committing a burglary in furtherance of the felony battery offense and three counts of witness intimidation. He’s also charged with misdemeanor battery.
The series of charges stem from allegations that Goullette burst into a Sagle Road home and attacked a man with a baseball bat, which fractured the man’s arm. He’s accused of threatening another man with the bat and threatening the lives of three witnesses in an attempt to silence them or influence their testimony, according to court documents. Goullette is also accused of pushing his girlfriend to the ground during the incident, although she denies that occurred, court records indicate.
A no-contact order involving his girlfriend was entered as a result of the battery allegation. She attempted to have the order lifted, although Judge Tera Harden declined to do so following a hearing on Monday. Goullette was also cited in court for violating the no-contact order on March 21, when he allegedly placed a call from the jail to the woman’s number, court records show. The woman spoke in the third person during call, which was recorded by the jail.
The woman received a second call on May 21 from a jail account registered to Goullette, although the person who made that call was determined to be another inmate, according to a probable cause affidavit. The caller coached the woman to deny the allegations against Goullette, the affidavit said.
Bonner County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank advised the court that additional charges are being reviewed, court records indicate.
The cascade of charges comes as Goullette nears trial in 1st District Court on a felony vehicular manslaughter charge. Goullette is accused of accidentally killing Katherine K. Stelzer, a 61-year-old Mead, Wash., resident and severely injuring Zualita Updike of Clark Fork with his pickup truck in June 2016. The two women were walking along McGhee Road when they were struck.
Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.
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