Woman gets 10 years for assault

A woman who stabbed a local casino worker twice and attempted to do the same to officers after being arrested was sentenced Monday in state District Court in Havre to 10 years with the Department of Public Health and Human Services because of her mental state.

Jamie C. Eagleman of Yakima, Washington, born in 1990, was sentenced as a persistent felony offender.

“The Court finds that it is clear the Defendant has a serious mental disorder, she has been failed by the mental health system, but because of that she has created this serious problem,” court hearing minutes report Judge Daniel Boucher said during sentencing.

Eagleman received 20 years with 10 suspended with DPHH on each of the following charges: two counts of assault with a weapon, robbery, and assault on a peace officer and was ordered to pay $14,150. She also received six months in county jail for each charge of theft and resisting arrest. She was credited with time served for each of the latter two charges.

The sentences are to be served at the same time.

The sentence was part of a plea deal that dropped four additional charges, among them attempted deliberate homicide.

The incident took place Dec. 9, 2015, when Eagleman took a pack of cigarettes and made her way toward the exit door of the Town Pump convenience store without paying, a court document says. A clerk and a customer told her to stop. When the customer tried to block the door to prevent her from leaving, Eagleman pulled out a knife and told him to “back off.” The customer backed off and Eagleman left.

Officers had responded to the Town Pump and were talking about how to locate Eagleman, who had been identified by the customer, when a call came in saying that a woman had been stabbed at the neighboring Magic Diamond Casino.

When the officers entered the casino, they found Eagleman behind the bar, laughing, the documents say. A woman was nearby on the floor, bleeding.

Eagleman was holding a knife, and when officers told her to put it down, she told them to shoot her. The officers were able to detain Eagleman and officers found multiple knives and razor blades on her, the documents say.

The stabbing victim, who had a hard time breathing and was crying and saying she was afraid she’d die, told officers that Eagleman came into the casino and had two beers and was denied a third because she was not playing the games. Eagleman then went behind the bar and tried to serve herself before the victim grabbed the glass and told Eagleman that she was not allowed to be there.

The victim said she felt like she got punched in the back twice after she turned her back to Eagleman. Someone yelled out that she had been stabbed, and Eagleman said the cops were already on their way, which the victim said she thought was weird, the document says.

While escorting Eagleman to her cell at Hill County Detention Center, during a final search, she pulled out a knife believed to have been hidden in her groin area. She tried to attack an officer and lunged at another while holding the knife, the documents say.

While Eagleman was being restrained, officers said, she threw the knife at two staff members, almost hitting them.