A Bozeman man convicted of felony aggravated assault for beating another man outside a Main Street bar in September 2008 faces the possibility of 100 years in prison.

The trial for Miles Kingman, 28, wrapped up in Gallatin County District Court Monday. The jury acquitted Kingman on a charge of attempted deliberate homicide but found him guilty of aggravated assault, a crime that carries a lesser possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison. But according to court documents that were unsealed after the trial verdict, prosecutors want to seek a higher sentence of up to 100 years in prison under Montana's persistent felony offender laws.

The state says in 2001, Kingman was convicted of two felonies in Nevada, inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant and false imprisonment. Judge Mike Salvagni can consider all prior offenses when sentencing Kingman.

Kingman was on trial for assaulting Paul Overby outside the Scoop bar in the early morning hours of Sept. 17, 2008. Bozeman police say Kingman and another man, Ryan Dibert, viciously attacked Overby in the alley behind the Scoop Bar when Overby tried to stop the men from stealing a scooter. Kingman has been portrayed by attorneys as the aggressor in the alleged attack.  

The trial before Gallatin County District Judge Holly Brown, which was expected to last 10 days, wrapped up in three.

Kingman took the stand in his own defense Monday, saying he was trying to defend himself during the fight. Kingman said he was drunk that night. He told the jury he did not try to kill Overby and stopped punching when he realized he was unconscious.

Overby also testified Monday, but said he had no recollection of the fight. He says the last thing he remembered was having a drink at the Molly Brown.

Ryan Dibert is also charged with attempted murder in this altercation. He is scheduled to go to trial in January.

(From Nov. 16, 2009)

A Bozeman man was found not guilty Monday of attempted deliberate homicide for allegedly beating another man outside a Main Street bar in September 2008. 

A Gallatin County jury, comprised of seven men and seven women, found Miles Kingman, 28, not guilty of attempted murder but determined he was guilty of a lesser charge of aggravated assault, a felony. The jury deliberated for six hours Monday before delivering its verdict.

Kingman was on trial for assaulting Paul Overby outside the Scoop bar in the early morning hours of Sept. 17, 2008. Bozeman police say Kingman and another man, Ryan Dibert, viciously attacked Overby in the alley behind the Scoop Bar when Overby tried to stop the men from stealing a scooter. Kingman has been portrayed by attorneys as the aggressor in the alleged attack.  

“I wouldn't say I was surprised, but I was pleased that the jury did its sworn duty and thoroughly considered all the evidence and not the few pieces of evidence that the state wanted to hang its case on,” public defender Eric Brewer said.

The trial before Gallatin County District Judge Holly Brown, which was expected to last 10 days, wrapped up in three.

Kingman took the stand in his own defense Monday, saying he was trying to defend himself during the fight. Kingman said he was drunk that night. He told the jury he did not try to kill Overby and stopped punching when he realized he was unconscious.

Overby also testified Monday, but said he had no recollection of the fight. He says the last thing he remembered was having a drink at the Molly Brown.

An emergency room doctor from Bozeman Deaconess Hospital also testified on Monday and said he was surprised that Overby survived. Overby suffered severe facial lacerations in the incident, the doctor testified.

The jury began deliberating Monday afternoon and by 8:30 p.m. had reached a verdict.

Dibert is also charged with attempted deliberate homicide. He is scheduled to go to trial in January.

Testimony wrapped up Monday morning in Gallatin County District Court in the trial of a Bozeman man accused of attempted deliberate homicide for allegedly assaulting a man outside a Main Street bar in September 2008.

Miles Kingman, 28, is on trial for allegedly assaulting Paul Overby outside the Scoop bar in the early morning hours of Sept. 17, 2008. Bozeman police say Kingman and another man, Ryan Dibert, viciously attacked Overby in the alley behind the Scoop Bar when Overby tried to stop the men from stealing a scooter. Kingman has been portrayed by attorneys as the aggressor in the alleged attack.

Monday was the third day of Kingman's trial before Judge Holly Brown.

On Monday, both Kingman and Overby took the stand. Overby said he had no recollection of the fight. He says the last thing he remembered was having a drink at the Molly Brown.

During his testimony, Kingman said he was trying to defend himself during the fight. Kingman said he was drunk that night. He told the jury he did not try to kill Overby and stopped punching when he realized he was unconscious.

An emergency room doctor from Bozeman Deaconess Hospital also testified, saying he was surprised that Overby survived. Overby suffered severe facial lacerations in the incident, the doctor testified.

Late Monday morning, both sides rested. Attorneys offered their closing statements Monday afternoon before the jury began deliberations. As of 5:30 p.m. Monday, the jury was still deliberating.

(From Nov. 13, 2009)

Two men who witnessed an incident outside a Bozeman bar last year that left one man bloody and gasping for air took the stand Friday in Gallatin County District Court and told jurors about what they saw that night.

On trial is Miles Kingman, 28, the man accused of attempted deliberate homicide after he allegedly assaulted Paul Overby outside the Scoop bar in the early morning hours of Sept. 17, 2008. Friday was the second day of what is expected to be a 10-day trial before Judge Holly Brown.

Brice Lang Termes was one of the witnesses that took the stand for the prosecution on Friday.

Termes said he was leaving the Scoop bar where he had met some friends on the night of the incident when he heard a scuffle in the alley behind the bar. There were three men. Termes said he saw one man punch another man, knocking him to the ground, and continued to punch him while the third man watched.

“At that point it still looked like a normal fight and then he kept hitting him,” Termes said. That’s when Termes said he realized the man wasn’t going to stop hitting the other man who had been knocked to the ground. That’s when he and his friend, Matt Munberg, who had left the Scoop and were on their way to the Molly Brown turned around and started walking back to the alley between the two bars where the fight was happening.

All he remembers hearing while they approached the three men is “the sound of fists hitting against a person,” Termes told the jury.

“He was laying on the ground, not hitting back, not getting up,” Termes said. “When he went down to the ground there really wasn’t any hitting back.”

Termes said he saw the taller of the two men punch the man on the ground repeatedly. That’s when Termes said he began yelling for the man to stop punching the man on the ground. When Termes and Munberg approached the men, the second man who had been watching until that point, kicked the man on the ground in the torso before he and the other man took off down the alley, Termes said.

“We really just thought we were coming up onto a fight. We knew it was bad, but I really thought I was going to be able to help the guy up,” Termes said. “I have never really seen anything that bad. You couldn’t discern his face…at that point we knew it was very serious.”

Overby was choking. Termes said when he turned him on his side, the man spit something up. Munberg went to another nearby bar and called 911.

“It wasn’t like breathing. He was wheezing. He was trying with everything he had to keep breathing is what it was,” Termes said.

Shortly after Munberg called 911, Bozeman Officer Joe Swanson arrived on the scene. Overby was breathing when he arrived at the scene, but then stopped, Swanson said. Swanson performed CPR and chest compressions. Overby began breathing again. He was gasping and gurgling and “it was very clear it was hard for him to breathe,” Swanson said.

Termes and Munberg said they didn’t get a good look at the men who were punching and kicking Overby.

A surveillance tape and bar receipts led police to Kingman and Ryan Dibert. Dibert is also charged in the case and is expected to go to trial in January.

Bozeman police Sgt. Steven Crawford said he reviewed surveillance tape from inside and outside the Scoop bar that night. Jurors watched the videos in court Friday.

Overby’s friend, John Bachman, who was with Overby the night of the incident, also took the stand Friday.  It was his motor bike that was parked outside the bar that Bozeman police say prompted the confrontation between Kingman and Dibert and Overby. Overby had helped him get the bike up and running, Bachman said. The surveillance video shows Dibert on the bike.

The defense does not dispute that Overby sustained serious injuries, Kingman's public defender Eric Brewer said during his opening statement Thursday, but added he would show the jury that Overby was actually the aggressor in the fight.

(From Nov. 12, 2009)

The trial began in Gallatin County District Court Thursday in the case of a Bozeman man accused of nearly killing another man outside a Main Street bar last year.

Miles Kingman, 28, is accused of attempted deliberate homicide after allegedly beating Paul Overby, outside the Scoop Bar in September 2008.

Bozeman police say Kingman and another man, Ryan Dibert, viciously attacked Overby in the early morning hours of Sept. 17, 2008  in the alley behind the Scoop Bar when Overby tried to stop the men from stealing a scooter. Kingman has been portrayed by attorneys as the aggressor in the alleged attack. 

After a jury of 14 people was selected Thursday, attorneys for both sides made their opening statements.

Deputy County Attorney Todd Whipple called the case "disturbing" and told jurors that Kingman attacked Overby and then bragged about it to his friends.

Overby's face was not recognizable as human when the first police officer arrived on the scene behind the bar, Whipple said.

During his opening statements, Whipple recalled the timeline of events that took place the day of the attack. The call came in about the assault at 1:22 a.m. Sept. 17, 2008. At 1:38 a.m. Overby was taken to Bozeman Deaconess Hospital. Eleven minutes later at 1:49 a.m., Kingman called a female friend, told her he had been in a fight and had to get out of town.

After the incident, while Kingman was treated by a doctor for injuries to his right hand, the only question he asked the doctor was if he would punch again, Whipple said.

The defense does not dispute that Overby sustained serious injuries, Kingman's public defender Eric Brewer said, but added he would show the jury that Overby was actually the aggressor in the fight.

While Brewer doesn't deny that his client punched Overby, he says Kingman did it in self defense and in defense of Dibert. Kingman was trying to break up a fight between Overby and Dibert over a scooter that belonged to Overby’s friend, Brewer told the jury during his opening statements.

Brewer also did not deny that Overby suffered injuries in the incident, but told jurors that by the end of the trial they would not be able to tell in the how Overby suffered the injuries, whether it was through Kingman’s punches or from Dibert kicking him.

Referring to a voicemail message Kingman left after the incident, Brewer said his client’s remarks were just “drunken boasting” of someone who was just attacked and who had defended himself and won a fight.

After attorneys finished their opening remarks, Bozeman police officer Joe Swanson who was the first officer on the scene took the stand. Swanson reportedly arrived at the scene within 30 seconds of the 911 call.

When he first arrived, Overby was breathing but then stopped. Swanson performed chest compressions on Overby who then began breathing again.

Swanson said he knew Overby was a male when he saw him at the scene, but him face was unrecognizable and covered in blood.

Swanson will continue his testimony Friday when the trial continues.

Kingman's trial is expected to last 10 days.

Dibert is set to go to trial in January.

Online story written by Erin Yeykal with reporting by Beth Saboe

The trial begins today in Gallatin County District Court for a Bozeman man accused of trying to kill another man outside a Main Street bar last fall.

Miles Kingman is accused of attempted deliberate homicide after allegedly beating Paul Overby, who was 30 years old at the time, outside the Scoop Bar on Main Street in September 2008.

Judge Holly Brown is presiding over the trial, which is expected to last 10 days.

Bozeman police say Kingman and another man, Ryan Dibert, viciously attacked Overby in the early morning hours of Sept. 17, 2008  in the alley behind the Scoop Bar when Overby tried to stop the men from stealing a scooter. Kingman has been portrayed by attorneys as the aggressor in the alleged attack.  Dibert is set to go to trial in January.

This week Brown threw out some evidence in the case against Kingman. In her order, Brown sided with Kingman's defense attorneys and agreed to prohibit prosecutors from including a statement made by an emergency room doctor on the night of the altercation.

According to court documents, Dr. Charles Fritz treated Overby in the emergency room and later told police that Overby suffered the most severe facial beating he had seen in his 33 years of experience.

Brown agreed with Kingman's public defenders and ruled that the statement would create an unfair prejudice at trial.

Prosecutors had argued that the severity of Overby's injuries is relevant to proving Kingman did not merely assault Overby but purposefully or knowingly attempted to kill him.

Check www.kbzk.com for updates throughout the trial.