Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Adam Whitlow Cumbie expected to learn of his punishment on Friday for assaulting his girlfriend and a friend earlier this year only find out that he is back at square one.

During a scheduled sentencing hearing, Routt County District Court Judge Joel S. Thompson rejected a plea bargain Cumbie's lawyer, James Oliphant, and Deputy District Attorney Charles Feldmann agreed upon back in October.

"He has an inability to comply with probation, and he has not admitted guilt," Thompson said of the 28-year-old man. "There is no chance in the world he would comply with the deferred sentence."

Cumbie, who appeared nervous at the hearing, shook his head and shrugged his shoulders after Thompson rejected the agreement.

In October, it was agreed upon that Cumbie would plead guilty to second-degree assault with a weapon, a class five felony, and third-degree assault, a class one misdemeanor.

A stipulation to the plea agreement was that the felony charge would be deferred for two years. The charge would be dismissed if Cumbie did not get into trouble with the law during that period.

On Friday, Cumbie was to be sentenced for the guilty plea to the third-degree assault, which carries a jail term of two years in the Routt County Jail.

Thompson rejected the plea agreement after a presentence investigation revealed Cumbie has been in trouble since he has posted bond for the alleged charges. Since the incident, Cumbie has moved to Breckenridge.

As part of the bond condition, he was to stay out of trouble with the law and refrain from using alcohol.

Cumbie has pending criminal charges against him in another county, Feldmann said.

"Our probation department does an outstanding job of gathering information on any pending charges," he said. Cumbie "has charges pending in another county involving alcohol and other criminal offenses."

Feldmann believes there are at least three instances in which new charges could be filed against Cumbie.