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Show Sixth District Court Actions PANGUITCH Proceedings of the Sixth Judicial District Court in Panguitch on Thursday, Jan. 20 were delayed 45 minutes due to Public Defender Floyd Holm being unavoidably detained. Judge K. L. Mclff stated he"felt generous" and so did not reprimand the attorney for his tardiness or holding up the entire courtroom full of people First on the docket was the State vs. John Bryan Elmer, 20, Panguitch. Elmer, represented by Holm, was set for sentencing on a charge of incest, a third degree felony. fel-ony. Elmer had spent over 90 days in jail at the diagnostic unit at the Point of the Mountain facility . while a report was prepared and subsequently read by the court. Judge Mclff asked County Attorney At-torney Wallace Lee for his recommendation recom-mendation in the case and Lee said he concurred with the findings of the diagnostic report. He said he felt Elmer was highly likely to reoffend and was a significant danger dan-ger to the community. Lee sought substantial punishment and treat- (See COURT on page 4-A) COURT From Front Page ment as well. Holm said he felt a prison environment envi-ronment was not a realistic environment envi-ronment for Elmer's successful treatmentand that his client needed both substance abuse and sexual abuse treatment. Mclff cleared the courtroom while the victim in the case spoke to those in authority. The judge then reconvened court and broke into a session in his chambers for some 30 minutes with Lee, Holm and Adult Probation and Parole Officer Of-ficer Richard Bagley. Judge Mclff emerged from that meeting and announced that after reviewing all the information in the case, he had noted some inconsistencies inconsis-tencies and decided to continue the imposition of sentencing until a later court date in February. Elmer remains incarcerated at the county jail until his sentencing. Robert Neil Randall was due to be sentenced but when the defendant did not appear in court, it was determined de-termined that neither Lee nor Holms had remembered to notify Randall of this court date. The case was continued for one month. Jay Lynn Clark, and Roxanna I Gale, both Panguitch, were repre-: repre-: sented by Attorney Marcus Taylor, 7 Richfield. They were present in court to enter pleas and proceed with sentencing on an incident dating dat-ing back to April 17, 1998. Clark was originally charged with six counts following a nighttime night-time confrontation with Utah High- way Patrol Trooper Paul Bailey after af-ter stopped the two on the highway north of Panguitch. The counts included 1) escape from official custody, a third degree felony; 2) assault by a prisoner, a third degree felony; 3) interference with a public servant, class B misdemeanor; mis-demeanor; 4) interference with an arresting officer, class B misdemeanor; misde-meanor; 5) possession of a controlled con-trolled substance (marijuana), a class B misdemeanor; 6) disorderly conduct, a class C misdemeanor. Gale was originally charged with seven counts including 1) driving driv-ing under the influence, a class B misdemeanor; possession of a controlled con-trolled substance (marijuana), class B misdemeanor; 3) possession of a controlled substance (ibuprofen), a class B misdemeanor; 4) interference interfer-ence with a public servant, class B misdemeanor; 5) interference with an arresting officer, a class B misdemeanor; mis-demeanor; 6) disorderly conduct, a class C misdemeanor and 7) no license li-cense plate lamp, a class B misdemeanor. misde-meanor. Both defendants had worked out plea bargains in which the charges were reduced to only two counts and they would agree to plead no con- (See COURT on page 5-A) COURT From Page 4-A test to two misdemeanor counts: a single count of knowingly interfering interfer-ing with an officer in discharge of his duty, a class B misdemeanor; and a single count of disorderly conduct, a class C misdemeanor. Attorney Lee advised the court about the evidence to be shown if the case went to trial. Trooper Bailey Bai-ley testified that he had pulled the vehicle over with Gale driving about 11 p.m. for an equipment violation. He said he subsequently smelled the odor of alcohol and queried que-ried the pair regarding alcohol consumption. con-sumption. He asked both to exit the vehicle and when they refused he proceeded to place them under arrest, ar-rest, subsequently having to use pepper spray, a night stick and some force. Lee said that he was most concerned con-cerned about the defendants' non-response non-response or lack of respect for authority. The defendants then spoke to the judge claiming that they felt the stop by Trooper Bailey was illegal. They said they refused to cooperate because they felt Bailey acted in a violent manner. They said they were scared and afraid of being roughed up, exactly what, they contended, con-tended, happened. Their attorney, Marcus Taylor, claimed his two innocent clients were entitled to resist if "excessive force" were being used. Taylor said that the officer displayed crude, base and unprofessional conduct. He submitted photographs to show the physical damage done to Clark by the officer's night stick. Judge Mclff said he failed to find evidence to support the defendants' fear of the officer and found their explanation inadequate for declining to get out of the car. He said he felt the officer would not have had to use increasing measures if the situation not warranted it. Mclff said he felt a difference between be-tween the resistance offered by Gale and that of Clark as he imposed sentence. He sentenced both to a statutory sentence of six months on the class B misdemeanor and a fine of $1,000 and three months on the class C misdemeanor and a fine of $500. He suspended all but $750 on the first count and all but $250 on the second count, for a total fine of $1,000 each. He suspended the jail time on Gale and all-but 10 days on Clark, to be served on weekends. Clark inquired if he might serve the sentence in St. George and was told he may do so if agreeable to (See COURT on page 6-A) COURT From Page 5-A both sheriffs and Clark pays the fee St. George would charge. James Robert Norris, 39, Cedar City was before the court on an order or-der to show cause why his probation proba-tion should not be revoked. Norris pleaded no contest to each of four allegations 1) failure- to establish residence; 2) use and possession of a controlled substance (methamphe-tamine); (methamphe-tamine); 3) failure to seek or maintain main-tain full time employment; 4) failure fail-ure to report as directed by probation. proba-tion. Norris was currently serving time in Iron County Jail. His probation pro-bation was revoked and sentence ordered or-dered to run concurrent with that of Iron County, |