Steamboat Today: Man takes reduced charges

Archive for Thursday, January 31, 2008

By Melinda Dudley Thursday, January 31, 2008

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Steamboat Springs — A Steamboat Springs man pled guilty to reduced charges of menacing and criminal mischief in Routt County District Court on Wednesday, in connection with an incident at Ski Jam during which he allegedly assaulted a Steamboat Springs police officer earlier this month.

Karsen Timothy Johnson, 20, was originally charged with two felonies, second-degree assault on a police officer and resisting arrest, and a misdemeanor charge of possessing alcohol as a minor.

Johnson was detained Jan. 15 during the North Mississippi Allstars' concert, where he was creating a disturbance and allegedly harassing the band members, according to police. Johnson also appeared to be highly intoxicated, police said.

While police were waiting to transport him to Routt County Jail, Johnson allegedly slipped one of his hands out of his handcuffs and struck one of the arresting officers in the face, resulting in minor injuries.

Johnson has agreed to complete 60 hours of community service, as well as alcohol monitoring and anger management instruction. His final sentence likely will include probation instead of jail time, said his attorney, Trevor McFee.

Given his charges, Johnson could have received up to four years in jail and $150,000 in fines, District Judge Shelley Hill said.

Johnson is due to be released from Routt County Jail on a personal recognizance bond. He is scheduled to appear in court for sentencing at 3 p.m. April 4, after a pre-sentence investigation from the probation department.

letomayo (anonymous) says...

Hows this guy coming to come up with $150,000. Does he have money otherwise putting a lean on his wages will only reduce his income and his chances of turning hisself around.

January 31, 2008 at 7:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

STEMBOATwannabe (anonymous) says...

1. He has a supportive family who may help him with the fines. Hopefully they will also try to instill in him the severity of his actions and the end result.
2. Can he learn a much needed lesson from all this? Can he beome a person that all of Steamboat would like to know?? Very proabably.

January 31, 2008 at 8:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

handyman (anonymous) says...

I don't see where he was charges with any monetary penalties. Only that he "could" have been penalized up to $150,000. Sure hope he can get control of himself, otherwise he'll probably be spending time in jail in the future.

January 31, 2008 at 8:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

STEMBOATwannabe (anonymous) says...

"Given his charges, Johnson COULD HAVE received up to 4 years & $150,000.00 in fines."

I stand corrected..... But I am sure that his family is still supportive of him and through their love and guidance he will be able to turn himself around.

January 31, 2008 at 8:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

thecondoguy1 (anonymous) says...

stbtwannabe, let's hope we don't need bad boys like that in Steamboat, embarrasing and dangerous, this grand parent that was so defensive may be the key to the turn around.......

January 31, 2008 at 9:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

id04sp (anonymous) says...

Kicked in a door.

Swung at a cop.

Drunk in public.

Yeah, right, he deserves another chance.

At this point, it ain't about giving him a chance to straighten himself out.

It's about protecting us from him. If he's in jail, he can't hurt us.

Thanks, judge, for letting this idot run loose.

Eventually, one of these guys is going to hurt somebody with ties to the judicial system, and it can't happen soon enough. That's what it's going to take for them to understand that WE need protection, not the snot-nosed gangsters who never learn about consequences from the system until an innocent person is killed or crippled.

February 1, 2008 at 7:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

BoatMaster (anonymous) says...

The Pilot keeps deleting my entries. I am just trying to point out that this was not this persons first offense. In the first article describing his arrest it says;

"Geis also recognized Johnson as having a warrant out for his arrest, in connection with a 2007 incident involving a kicked-in door at a Walton Pond apartment, Coyner said."

If it was a first offense it would make sense for probation and community service.

I am all for second chances, but this is not the first offense, this is a pattern. So we will see.

February 1, 2008 at 6:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

paddlefisher (anonymous) says...

I hope everything works out for this kid but should be aclohol abuse classes..he clearly has a problem..hope he learned his lesson..my back yard is not clean so I urge you Karsen LEARN fom your mistakes for they will haunt you for the rest of your life..you are still classifed as a minor once you turn 21..mistakes like these will stick with you

January 31, 2008 at 4:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

STEMBOATwannabe (anonymous) says...

Karsen,
Please listen to paddlefisher... These are lessons that are hard to learn. Life is so much harder today than when we were making our mistakes. The older people who read this hope you can take this opportunity to learn from our mistakes.

January 31, 2008 at 5:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

BoatMaster (anonymous) says...

Karson should have got more jail time

I am sure we will see him in the record again.

January 31, 2008 at 5:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

mud (anonymous) says...

This kind of deal is pretty standard for the "alleged" incident.

January 31, 2008 at 7:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

oneski (anonymous) says...

So did this bonehead ever give the name of who and where he got the liquor? They both deserve jail time.

January 31, 2008 at 7:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

mountaingirl33 (anonymous) says...

I agree with you 100%

I have it on good authority that he was intoxicated when he kicked in the front door.

I hope that even though Karsen has received a slap on the wrist for this incident; he will take a serious look at himself,
But as someone who has had experience with being in the system I don't have much hope that he can turn things around. It takes strong determination and strength of self to turn things around once you have been sucked in to that type of life style. It is obvious by Karsen's actions that he currently does not have much self restraint.

I hope for his sake he proves us all wrong.

February 1, 2008 at 8:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

love_boat (anonymous) says...

Grandma thinks he is a good boy. Maybe next time he gets drunk he will kick in her door she will see he needs some serious help. When I get drunk I don't try to break things or hit police officers, I just get loud and obnoxious which is bad enough. If you have so much anger in you that you get violent when drunk you must address the anger too.

February 1, 2008 at 1:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

curious1 (anonymous) says...

This is a shock to me that he got off so easy. My son was there in Steamboat Springs doing construction. He went to a club and got intoxicated. (Which I don't agree with) I'm not sure what happened....but he is charge with resisting arrest and spitting on a police officer. He has been in jail there over two months. He took a plea of felony menencing and assualt with a deadly weapon (which there was no weapon involved) This was after hiring a lawyer. It sound like my son should have went to a public defender. My son has no criminal record.

February 2, 2008 at 6:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )