Blackfoot man charged after he allegedly used nunchucks to assault woman

BLACKFOOT — A 67-year-old man is facing a serious felony charge after police say that he attacked a woman with nunchucks.

Melvin Kirk Blackburn of Blackfoot was charged with felony aggravated battery with an enhancement due to the use of a deadly weapon. Due to the enhancement, if Blackburn is found guilty, he faces up to 30 years in prison.

EastIdahoNews.com reached out to the Idaho State Public Defender’s Office to get a comment for Blackburn, as it lists a state public defender assigned to him. We will update if we hear back.

According to the court documents, on June 21, officers with the Blackfoot Police Department were dispatched to a home after a report of an ongoing fight. The initial report was that a man was attacking a woman with a machete and that she had hit the man in the face.

Upon their arrival, officers found Blackburn outside of the residence, who told officers that the woman had assaulted him.

The woman was spoken to next and said that Blackburn had returned from the hospital and confronted her about not picking him up.

During an argument between the two, the woman said that while Blackburn was sitting on a stool, he had grabbed a pair of nunchucks and began to use them on the woman.

The woman, who had walked near Blackburn, had tried to stop him, but was hit by the nunchucks.

The document states that the woman managed to knock Blackburn off the stool and ran away.

An officer reported that the woman had a large bruise on her left arm and another bruise on her upper back.

When officers went to talk with Blackburn to hear his side of the story, he told them that he had walked home from the hospital, and once inside the residence, he was attacked by the woman.

Questioned why the woman would attack him, he claims she was upset that he went to the hospital via ambulance the night before.

Further questioning about how the woman assaulted him resulted in Blackburn saying that she had punched him in the face.

After checking Blackburn for injuries, the officer reported that he had none. This was also the same answer from the EMS, who were called in.

The officers reported that, after reading his Miranda Rights, Blackburn’s story of the assault kept changing. When asked if he had used nunchucks to hit the woman, he said he did not.

When asked about the woman’s bruises, he did not know how she had gotten them. After being told of the allegations by the woman, Blackburn said he did grab nunchucks to defend himself, but never used them on the woman.

Blackburn was arrested and taken to the Bingham County Jail.

He is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge J. Scott Andrew at 8:30 a.m. on July 2.

Though Blackburn has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.