A Kalispell woman arrested after allegedly using a maul ax to break into the home where her husband was staying last year later received a pair of suspended jail sentences.  

Sophia Maria Owen, 41, initially pleaded not guilty to felony attempted burglary in Flathead County District Court in connection with the May 19, 2024 attack, but later took a deal from prosecutors. In exchange for pleading guilty to misdemeanor counts of partner or family member assault and criminal mischief, prosecutors agreed to recommend a suspended one-year jail sentence for the former and a six-month suspended jail sentence for the latter.  

Owen entered her guilty pleas before Judge Heidi Ulbricht on Sept. 17, 2024. Ulbricht, who stuck to the terms of the deal, handed down Owen's sentences that same day. The two were to run concurrently. 

Ulbricht gave Owen credit for two days of time served, ordered her to refrain from contacting the victim and undergo 40 hours of anger management. Ulbricht also required Owen to pay $175 in court fines and fees as well as $1,163 in restitution.  

Prosecutors alleged that the resident of an Airport Road home, alerted by the barking of her dogs, found Owen trying to break inside with an ax. Owen's husband, in the home at the time, later told authorities he believed she was trying to get to him, according to court documents.  

Although she smashed through the glass of an interior door, he held it shut, court documents said. That's when she allegedly began hitting him through the broken door.  

Owen landed three punches with a closed fist, leaving her husband with a loose tooth, inflamed eye and swollen cheek, court documents said.  

Though she fled before Flathead County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived, authorities caught up with her at an area bar, according to court documents. They found her with a shard of glass in her hair and a cut on her foot they suspected was caused by broken glass. 

Owen allegedly admitted to visiting the Airport Road home earlier that night. She told authorities she broke down the door after her husband refused to see her, according to court documents. 

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or [email protected].