The victim of a local bar owner’s attack nearly a year ago gave emotional testimony during a hearing this week in Lincoln County District Court.

Richard Thomas Tuin, 41, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of negligent endangerment Monday in front of District Judge Matt Cuffe. A plea deal between Deputy County Attorney Jeff Zwang and Tuin’s counsel, Jay Forsyth, called for Tuin to serve two days in the county detention center.

Cuffe stuck with the plea deal and sentenced Tuin to one year in the local jail with all time suspended, except for two days. Tuin was ordered to report to the jail at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7. He was also ordered to pay $2,525.64 in restitution to the victim as well as an $85 fee. A $1,000 fine was suspended. He must also complete 10 hours of anger management counseling.

But when it came time for Tuin to admit to the offense, throwing a bar stool and injuring the victim in the establishment he owns, he wavered and instead maintained he made contact with the stool that then struck the woman.

According to the victim, she had prepared a statement to read, but when he said he didn’t throw the stool, weighing about 15 pounds, she decided to speak without reading the  prepared missive.

“You said you didn’t pick up the chair, but you did and you lifted it over your shoulder and threw it,” she said. “All I wanted was to get my keys back and you dangled them in my face. You told people I tripped over a stool, but I suffered nerve damage.

“You told your employees that, ‘this (expletive) bitch is just trying to get attention and if you try to help her, you’ll be fired,’” she said. “The one person who did help, you threw his cowboy hat into the fire.”

She also explained how the injury has affected her.

“That day I was near the end of rehab for a motorcycle accident I was in and I then had to go through surgery awake, screaming and I have to live through this pain and you’re getting away with nothing.

“I don’t think you have any remorse or are willing to apologize for this, but I didn’t deserve this,” she said.

After the hearing was over, the woman said her rehab was going well, but she has yet to return to work.

Tuin had no other statement than his brief allocution. Libby city councilors approved the business license earlier this month for the bar to continue its operations.

Forsyth asked the judge to grant Tuin the ability to travel to his Arizona residence. Cuffe said he’d let that up to the probation officer.

Tuin originally faced a one felony county of assault and 20 years in prison following the Jan. 6, 2025, incident at the Pastime Bar on Mineral Avenue in Libby. 

According to a probable cause statement, Libby Police officer Don Luthey was dispatched to the bar at 1:47 a.m. Monday, Jan. 6, after a woman was struck in the leg with a bar stool. She said her leg was injured after Tuin threw a bar stool at her.

When Luthey spoke with the victim, she said she was in the bar when Tuin become heavily intoxicated and began, “acting weird” with her as Tuin was “hitting on” one of her male friends. She said she was standing on the opposite end of the bar from Tuin when he allegedly picked up a bar stool, threw it at her and struck her in the right leg.

The woman said she left the bar with two friends and called police. According to Luthey’s statement, several witnesses at the scene agreed with the alleged victim’s statements.

When Luthey spoke to Tuin, he said he didn’t throw the bar stool at her and refused to allow the officer to review surveillance footage from inside the bar.

Luthey described the stool as a heavy wrought iron type bar stool with a high back. 

Luthey then spoke to the woman and saw that her right leg was bleeding. He also reported that when Tuin was booked into the Lincoln County Detention Center, his blood alcohol content was 0.172, more than twice the legal limit.

Luthey also saw the alleged victim at the hospital and reported seeing a large, bleeding cut on the outside of her right leg, just below her knee. The cut was about three inches in diameter and one-half inch raised with dark bruising.

Tuin has a lengthy record in Lincoln County Justice Court dating back 20 years. Many of the cases against him involve driving offenses, including driving without a license or insurance and speeding. Some of them were dismissed, but he pleaded guilty to negligent endangerment and speeding in a 2017 case.

The case was first filed in February 2017 as a DUI offense with careless driving and speeding. It was later amended to amended to negligent endangerment (substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.) Court records indicated he served one day.