Montpelier, Idaho Police Officer Kevin Buttars Charged

August 14, 2007 -- (Boise) – The Idaho Attorney General’s Office filed a criminal complaint yesterday charging Montpelier City Police Officer Kevin Buttars with the misdemeanor crime of unnecessary assaults by a police officer, Attorney General Wasden said.

Judge William Woodland, a senior judge in the Sixth Judicial District, issued a summons for Buttars to appear in court in Bear Lake County on Wednesday, August 22, 2007.

The complaint charges Buttars with one count of unnecessary assaults by a police officer. The charge alleges that on March 5, 2007, Kevin Buttars used his authority as a police officer and, without lawful necessity, assaulted or beat Jared Finley by shoving and/or choking him and/or slamming his head into a wall and/or forcibly simulating sodomy on him.

Under Idaho law, the maximum penalty for unnecessary assaults by a police officer is one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

The Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Unit is handling the case at the request of Oneida County Prosecuting Attorney Dustin Smith acting as Special Prosecuting Attorney for Bear Lake County.

Attorney General Lawrence Wasden noted that a complaint is merely an allegation and that a defendant in a criminal case is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Source: Idaho Attorney General

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