Charles Dante Rill, 20, Velva, was sentenced on Tuesday to 20 years in prison, with a requirement that he serve 15 years, followed by three years of supervised probation for trying to kill a Highway Patrol trooper who had responded to a domestic violence incident on Aug. 27, 2020. He will receive credit for 398 days already served in jail.

Judge Michael Hurly also sentenced Rill to five years in prison, with a requirement that he serve two years, followed by three years of supervised probation, for strangling a woman. The sentences on the domestic violence and attempted murder charges are to be served consecutively. Hurly gave Rill a five-year suspended sentence for trying to disarm the Highway Patrol trooper.

Hurly also ordered Rill to complete an anger management and domestic violence offenders course and recommended that he receive treatment for drug addiction while he is in prison. He was also ordered to pay court costs.

According to court documents, Rill had strangled the woman during a domestic violence incident and had reportedly been high while he was caring for a young child. North Dakota Highway Patrol Trooper Michael Schott arrived and a struggle began between Rill and Schott. Rill tried to punch the trooper up to five times in the face and tried to grab Schott’s sidearm and succeeded in grabbing the baton from his duty belt.

Rill struck Schott in the head with his own baton. The trooper was able to get control of Rill with the help of McHenry County Deputy Trevor Elfman, who had arrived on scene. Schott said he overheard Rill say, “If I would have got your gun, you would have been done.”

Schott and Elfman subdued Rill and placed him in the back seat of Elfman’s patrol vehicle, where Rill “went berserk” and kept banging loudly on the windows.