Man convicted of aggravated assault awaits rape trial

A man who was found guilty Thursday by a Coeur d’Alene jury on four criminal counts of violence that call for more than 21 years behind bars has another trial in November for rape and kidnapping.

If Michael S. South, 45, is found guilty of those charges, which stem from 2018, he could spend the rest of his life in prison, prosecutors said.

The latest case was the result of a March incident when South threatened to slice and dice a Rathdrum property owner with a sheath knife. He also used the knife to threaten a woman before punching her in the face, deputies said.

After a three-day trial this week, a jury deliberated for two hours before convicting South of aggravated assault, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and a deadly weapons enhancement that can add as much as 15 years to the penalty. He was also found guilty of two misdemeanors including battery and malicious injury to property.

South was on probation when the latest incident occurred. He was released by the Idaho Department of Correction after serving part of a five-year prison term for a 2011 aggravated assault conviction in which he also used a knife, prosecutors said.

When he was arrested last spring he was charged with attempted strangulation, two counts of aggravated assault, battery, two counts of assault and two counts of malicious injury to property. Bail was set at $150,000.

Deputies said South and his girlfriend got into an argument at a hot spring in Montana, where South had allegedly been jailed and posted bail after beating a man.

The 30-year-old girlfriend returned to Idaho by herself and stayed at the Rathdrum residence of a friend when South showed up, demanding his girlfriend leave with him.

When she refused, he pulled a knife from a sheath tucked into his waistband, grabbed the woman by the neck, threatened to kill her, then punched her in the face.

When the property owner attempted to intervene, he was also threatened, according to deputies.

“He got all puffed up and threatened to slice and dice me,” Rathdrum resident Roger Oliver wrote in a statement. “He began to bang on the door making death threats.”

Sentencing for Thursday’s conviction is set for Nov. 5, while South’s jury trial on the rape and aggravated assault charge is Nov. 11 in Coeur d’Alene.

Those charges stem from a June 2018 incident in which South allegedly used a hatchet or a knife when he raped a woman in Kootenai County and prevented her from leaving. He is charged with five felonies including rape, two counts of aggravated assault, kidnapping and domestic battery. The charges include a weapon enhancement and a habitual offender enhancement.