A Dunseith man pleaded not guilty this week in district court to attempted murder of a Rolette County deputy in February. Michael James Marion is charged with multiple felonies in the case, including attempted murder of Deputy Keith Benning.

A story in Wednesday’s edition of The Minot Daily News was based on the initial complaint in the case that was filed with the court. An amended complaint with a corrected version of the event was filed later with the court. It gives a somewhat different account of the event leading up to the attempted murder charge.

According to the amended complaint filed with the court, Marion was resisting arrest and, during the struggle, managed to grab hold of Benning’s duty weapon and point it toward the deputy. This happened while he had Benning grappled from behind and the deputy was attempting to get up from the ground. Marion attempted to turn the barrel of the weapon toward Benning while saying “he could not go back to jail.” During the initial struggle, the gun discharged. Marion then continued to say he could not go back to jail and kept trying to turn the gun toward the face and chest of Benning. The weapon discharged a second time while he was attempting to point it at the deputy.

The initial complaint said that Marion grabbed the officer’s duty weapon while he was resisting arrest and, while Benning was on the ground, he pointed it at the deputy’s head and a round discharged into the ground next to Benning’s head as the deputy struggled to secure his weapon and, as a result, directed the shot away from his head.

At a hearing this week in district court, Benning testified that the vehicle pursuit ended on an unplowed road “in the middle of nowhere.” Marion’s vehicle got stuck. Benning approached and went to the truck, while covering it with his sidearm. Marion refused to open the door and kept reaching around in the truck. Benning testified that there was a loaded semiautomatic pistol on Marion’s dashboard which Marion reached towards several times during the incident. Benning called dispatch and reported that Marion wouldn’t show him his hands. Benning testified that his portable radio didn’t work every time he called throughout the incident because the sheriff department’s old portables at the time didn’t work 90 percent of the time. Benning testified that he broke the truck window with his flashlight and again ordered Marion to get out of the vehicle. After Marion failed to comply with the order which was given numerous times, Benning used pepper spray on Marion several times. Benning testified that he told Marion he would give him water to wash his face with if he got out of the vehicle, but Marion still refused to comply.

Benning testified that he was able to get one handcuff on Marion and got his arm out of the door. When Benning finally got Marion to exit the truck and was about to take him to the ground, Marion hit the deputy over the eye with the brass knuckles. Benning testified that he staggered back, trying to get his balance, but Marion was “right on top of him throwing blows.” Before Benning could get his feet under him, Marion tackled him. When Benning hit the ground, he broke two ribs in the front and one in the back. Benning testified that he had the wind knocked out of him. As he tried to get up, Marion got on his back and started throwing punches. Benning was on his hands and knees, trying to block the blows. Then a “clean, hard punch” landed on his temple and that was when Benning knew that Marion had the brass knuckles on. He testified that he “saw stars” and knew that he would lose consciousness if he was struck like that again. He didn’t know how far out his backup was, his portable radio didn’t work, they were in a remote area and Marion was considerably larger than he was. Benning testified that he was close to losing consciousness and had been injured. At that point, Benning drew his sidearm, intending to shoot over his shoulder. Benning warned Marion that he would shoot him if Marion didn’t get off him.

Benning testified that drew his weapon, pointed it over his shoulder and he grabbed the barrel. Benning testified that his gun never left his hand throughout the incident. Marion pleaded with the deputy at the start of the struggle not to shoot him. That then changed to “I can’t go back to jail” as Marion was twisting the gun towards Benning’s face. Benning testified that they fought for control of where the gun was pointed. The first shot went off during the initial struggle for the gun. He testified that at one point the gun was in front of the pair, with Marion on his back and Marion “slowly twisted the barrel towards (Benning’s) head.” Benning then managed to get the gun back on the ground and the gun went off again.

Benning testified that, because their hands were on the gun it didn’t cycle and was rendered inoperative. Benning didn’t know that the shell didn’t eject. When the gun came up by his face again, Benning testified that he pushed it over his shoulder and pulled the trigger but it didn’t go off. He got the gun back on the ground. Benning testified that his hand was still on the grip where it had been the entire time. At that point, both his hands and Marion’s were on the gun.

Benning testified that he believed that Marion was high on meth. Benning managed to calm Marion down. When Marion took his hand off the gun, Benning struck backwards and hit Marion in the groin. This gave Benning a chance to move forward and get on his feet. When Benning turned around, Marion was jogging away. Benning followed him and deployed his taser, but Marion twisted and broke the wires. Benning kept following him and kicked Marion in the knee to try to slow him down.

Marion is also charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver or manufacture. Marion had four small plastic bags with meth portioned for sale. The amount of meth was 15 grams. Marion was also in possession of 26 empty plastic bags.

Marion is charged with attempted murder and possession of meth with intent to deliver, both Class A felonies carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. He is charged with felony escape, a Class B felony carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines. He is charged with prohibited possession of a firearm by a felon, a Class C felony carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison and $10,000 in fines. He is also charged with resisting arrest and fleeing a police officer, both Class A misdemeanors carrying a maximum sentence of one year in prison and $3,500 in fines.