Home wrecker case goes to trial

SANDPOINT - A landowner accused of tearing down a Bonner County home while its tenants were still inside was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on three counts of aggravated assault.

Defense counsel for Paul Fagerlie Finman argued during a preliminary hearing that his client was unaware the rental home was occupied when he began dismantling it last fall with a John Deere tractor, but Judge Barbara Buchanan ruled that there was too much evidence demonstrating otherwise.

A date for Finman's arraignment in 1st District Court was not immediately set.

Finman, 55, of Rathdrum, was charged with the three felonies following the Oct. 8 incident on property he owns off Bandy Road in Vay. The tenants, a family of four, were in the process of being evicted when the incident occurred.

The family's father was away from the home, but his wife and their two teenage children were inside when Finman began to destroy the home. They escaped without injury, but told the court that they feared for their safety during the episode.

The wife and children testified that a rock was hurled through a sliding glass door and later saw Finman retrieve a tractor with a forklift implement and begin demolishing the modest home.

"I was afraid. I did not feel safe," Rebecca Campbell, 17, testified.

Finman's defense attorney, Jeremy Featherston, sought to undermine those claims by drawing on her testimony about remaining in the home to photograph Finman, search for the family's cat, change footwear, and retrieve a dog leash and book before exiting.

"If you were that concerned, why didn't you just leave?" Featherston asked during his cross-examination.

The teen testified that she only ventured into parts of the house which were not being dismantled by the lift forks.

Featherston also cast doubt on Finman's ability to see into the home because of reflective tinting film on windows and questioned why the home's occupants did not try to alert his client that they were inside.