COEUR d’ALENE — A man with a string of domestic violence convictions who prosecutors said “victimizes every woman he enters a relationship with” will spend up to 20 years in prison after pulling a knife on a woman. 

In December, a jury found Dalton A. Maples, 22, guilty of domestic battery with traumatic injury and robbery, both felonies, as well as the misdemeanor offenses of malicious injury to property and destruction of a telecommunication device. The jury acquitted Maples on a felony charge of aggravated assault. 

First District Judge Casey Simmons sentenced Maples on Tuesday to 20 years in prison with parole eligibility after eight years. 

“You are an extremely angry, violent and dangerous individual and you are most dangerous to those you are in intimate relationships with,” Simmons said before handing down the sentence. “Frankly, given the history of escalation, it is shocking to this court that you haven’t injured someone more significantly and that we are not here on a manslaughter case.” 

The charges stem from July 2025, when prosecutors said Maples argued with a woman he was dating after she accused him of cheating. Maples threw the woman into a door jam, according to court records, causing bruising to her body. 

When the woman told Maples she wanted to end the relationship, prosecutors said he pulled out a knife and chased her. 

The next day, when Maples arrived at the woman’s workplace, the woman called 911, but the call was dropped due to poor service. Prosecutors said Maples took the woman’s cellphone and made her leave her workplace, then forced her into his truck, where he pulled out a knife and threatened to harm himself. 

When law enforcement called the woman due to the dropped 911 call, Maples grabbed the phone from her hands and smashed it, according to court records. 

Two bystanders called 911, prosecutors said, relaying to dispatchers that Maples was “swinging” at the woman, who was “trying to defend herself.” 

Prosecutors said Maples has a history of abusing his intimate partners. 

Maples battered a teen girl he was dating in 2021, prosecutors said. In 2023, prosecutors charged Maples with aggravated assault for throwing a cinder block at his pregnant girlfriend. Maples pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. 

The same year, prosecutors said Maples punched and choked a different girlfriend in front of the woman’s child. After prosecutors charged him with attempted strangulation and domestic battery in the presence of a child, he pleaded guilty to the amended charge of domestic violence with traumatic injury. 

The judge in the case sentenced Maples to five years in prison but retained jurisdiction, sending Maples to a prison treatment program. 

While that case was ongoing, prosecutors said Maples headbutted a woman he was dating in Washington, causing injuries and memory loss. That case is still pending in Washington. 

Prosecuting attorney Molly Nivison urged the court to “remove (Maples) from society” because retained jurisdiction and probation have not deterred him from acts of violence so far. 

“This court has to remove his access to women, to intimate partners,” she said. “He will batter and terrorize women.” 

Before receiving the sentence, Maples said he “sincerely regrets” his actions. 

“I know this is not the life I want to lead,” he said. “I have grown up in these past few months and plan on growing more so I can take responsibility as the man I’m meant to be.” 

Simmons said Maples exhibited “a pattern of sustained abuse” with multiple partners and that prison was the only appropriate sentence. 

“This type of conduct will not be tolerated here in Kootenai County,” she said. 

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or sexual abuse, reach Safe Passage 24/7 by calling 208-664-9303 or texting 208-449-7228.