The night before a court appearance on three cases involving drugs and assault,
It has been a busy year for Jim. In February, he was arrested and charged with possession and unlawful use of a controlled substance. In June, he was arrested and charged with second-degree assault and felony menacing. In October, an affidavit alleged he dropped a bag of cocaine in a courtroom at Montezuma County Combined Courts.
In November, he carried a woman out of a burning mobile home on County Road 25. Upon providing a statement to a deputy that night, he was arrested on a warrant regarding the cocaine incident.
Jim was scheduled for a plea hearing at 11 a.m. on Dec. 20. Instead of appearing in street clothes, he showed up in stripes and handcuffs.
A Cortez Police Department incident report completed about 12 hours before he appeared in court, at 11:37 p.m. on Dec. 19, states Sgt. Brandon Gunderson was on routine patrol when he saw Jim enter the driver’s seat of a white sedan at a gas station on South Broadway. Gunderson recognized Jim, and a check through dispatch confirmed Jim did not have a valid driver license.
Jim parked the vehicle in front of a residence on Arrowhead Lane. Gunderson parked his vehicle without activating his emergency lights and contacted Jim, according to the report. Gunderson noticed a child sitting in the front passenger seat and a knife hanging out of Jim’s pocket, along with other knives around the driver’s seat.
He reported that he smelled alcohol on Jim’s breath. Jim said he had consumed three shots earlier in the day. He performed roadside maneuvers adequately.
Gunderson reportedly told Jim that he planned to cite him for driving without a valid license, but another officer’s search of the car found a digital scale with white residue and a white substance scattered on the passenger seat where the child had been sitting. Officers also found a folded dollar bill with white substance inside, and it tested positive for meth.
Gunderson arrested Jim on suspicion of five charges, including unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 drug felony, and violating bond conditions, a Class 6 felony. The District Attorney’s Office for the 22nd Judicial District has not yet filed charges.
The next morning, Jim was ready to enter pleas in his three previous cases this year.
Defense attorney Kenneth Pace informed 22nd Judicial District Chief Judge Douglas Walker of a plea deal he reached with prosecutors.
In the February drug case, Jim pleaded guilty in May to unlawful use of a controlled substance and was sentenced to 12 months probation. Jim on Thursday admitted to violating probation. For that, the plea deal includes a sentence of 30 days in jail, consecutive with another case.
In the June assault case, Jim will enter a deferred judgment and plead guilty on felony menacing, a Class 5 felony, and third-degree assault, a Class 1 misdemeanor. Jim was originally charged with second-degree assault, a Class 4 felony, but the deal amended that count. A violent crime sentence enhancer was dismissed.
Jim admitted Thursday this was an act of domestic violence against a female he was intimately involved with. Both the menacing and assault involved a knife, Walker said. Jim could face a sentence of one to three years in prison on the menacing charge and two years in jail for second-degree assault.
In the October case, in which Jim allegedly dropped a bag of cocaine in a courtroom, he will plead guilty to possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 drug felony. The plea deal states he will serve probation concurrent with another case for that charge.
Walker said he accepted the deal pending the outcome of a presentencing investigation.
Jim is now scheduled on Jan. 9 for filing of charges for the Dec. 19 arrest involving meth. On Feb. 7, he is scheduled for resentencing on the February drug case, in which he violated probation as well as two sentencing hearings for the June assault and October drug case.
sdolan@the-journal.com
