Post Falls man gets 20 years for Montana shootings

HAMILTON, Mont. – An Idaho man convicted of three counts of attempted murder for shooting at motorists in the Bitterroot Valley last September has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Blaine C. Fadness, 39, of Post Falls, was arrested Sept. 11, 2006, while driving southbound on U.S. 93 with numerous weapons in his vehicle. He was the only suspect in three shootings that injured one woman and damaged three vehicles.

District Judge Jeffrey Langton sentenced Fadness on Wednesday to 40 years in prison with 20 years suspended on each of the three charges. The sentences are to run concurrently.

“I never thought I was going to hit anything,” Fadness said at his trial. “It was like throwing a snowball. You think it’s going to fall short.”

A bullet fired by Fadness pierced Kay Fixsen’s car door and struck her in the left knee as she drove north on U.S. 93 south of Darby.