Bonners man gets 3 to 15 years in prison for beating woman

Gerald V. Kittell wished District Judge John Patrick Luster a Merry Christmas after hearing he would be sent to prison for 3 to 15 years for inflicting a woman with life-threatening injuries.

Kittell also told the judge to drive home safely.

Kittell will be formally sentenced at 10 a.m. Feb. 24.

The Bonners Ferry man made a plea agreement with the state to admit to battery and in return, will be sent to prison for a minimum of three years.

“I thought it was a very good deal given the circumstances,” said Kittell’s attorney Serra Woods. “I don’t know if the defendent thought it was or not, but he decided to take the deal after we had a long talk. He was a difficult client.”

“I thought he was going to change his mind about pleading guilty but he didn’t,” Woods continued. “He came in and said ‘yes sir I am guilty.’ I was very proud of that.”

It is something that shouldn’t have happened, but it did and I’m sorry, Kittell told Luster.

Kittell on May 26 took the unidentified victim to Boundary Community Hospital, claiming she was involved in an ATV accident, according to court records. She had broken ribs and facial bones, and internal injuries, including a punctured lung.

The two had been camping at Boulder Creek Campgrounds, according to court records.

The woman was flown to Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’ Alene. KMC contacted police in Bonners Ferry and indicated the victim’s injuries couldn’t have been from an ATV accident, according to court records.

Kittell,45, was charged with felony aggravated assault and remains in Boundary County Jail on a $500,000 bond.

The judge also allowed Kittell, with a police escort, to go see his dying mother for an hour whenever the jail could find time.

“The Boundary County Sheriff’s Office are a great group of people,” said Woods. “If they can do something, they will do it.”