Man guilty of child abuse, assault

Man guilty of child abuse, assault

June 2, 2001

by Aspen C. Emmett
Journal Staff Writer

A Cortez man has been convicted of child abuse and third-degree assault for an incident that allegedly began as a domestic dispute between a husband and wife and escalated to a physical attack on the man’s sister-in-law, with his child in the middle.

Charges stemmed from an incident in May 2000 in which Steven Livingston attacked his wife’s sister, Rhonda Allmon, and knocked her to the ground while she was holding his daughter, according to a police report. He also reportedly shoved his wife, Belinda, into a barbed-wire fence as she was trying to pull him off of her sister.

According to the police report, Belinda Livingston had called her sister to come and pick her up at the corner of county roads P and 22 because her husband was drunk.

When the two sisters went to the house where Steven Livingston was, the couple’s child was sitting on the man’s shoulders. Allmon reportedly approached Livingston and took the 3-year-old down from his shoulders.

Livingston then began punching Allmon and jumped on her back, knocking her to the ground. Allmon said she landed on both elbows to keep from dropping the little girl and Livingston continued to hit her, according to the police report.

Belinda Livingston reportedly tried to intervene and was subsequently shoved into a barbed-wire fence by her husband.

Livingston originally faced one count of child abuse, two counts of third-degree assault and a sentence-enhancing charge of domestic violence in county court Thursday. However, during the course of the trial, one count of third-degree assault on his wife was reduced to a charge of harassment due to the nature of her injuries. In the end, Livingston was acquitted of the harassment charge.

Livingston’s defense attorney, Brian Showalter, told the jury of three men and three women that Livingston’s actions were justified because Allmon was "kidnapping" his daughter and he was using the necessary force to get the child back. He also added that when Livingston pushed his wife, he was acting in self-defense.

"It’s a bad situation," Showalter said in his closing statement. "But it’s not a criminal situation.

"It’s enough to call him a jerk, but it’s not enough, in a court of law, to find him guilty," Showalter told the jury.

Prosecutor Shelly Rodriguez disputed the defense’s theory.

"This is not the action of someone who’s just trying to get his child back. . . it’s putting your child in the middle," Rodriguez said.

During the course of the trial, the jury heard the 911 call from Allmon as well as selective testimony pertaining to a previous domestic incident in 1998 involving the couple and their child.

In 1998, Steven Livingston was charged with felony menacing, third-degree assault, child abuse, failure to leave the premises and the sentence-enhancing charge of domestic violence.

According to the report on that incident, an intoxicated Livingston became angry over a speeding ticket and began throwing things at his home. He allegedly held a kitchen chair over his wife’s head and threatened to throw her out the window and kill her. All the while, she was holding their daughter.

Belinda Livingston told the police her husband took the baby from her and proceeded to punch her in the face and stomp on her ribs and legs while he was holding the baby. According to the report, she escaped and called 911.

The woman also told the police her husband had threatened her life with a gun in the past but she’d never reported it.

Following the 911 call, Steven Livingston reportedly barricaded himself and the child in the house, threatening to "shoot any officer that came onto his property," according to the report.

The Montezuma County Sheriff’s SWAT team was called in and the incident ended peacefully following a 12-hour standoff.

However, charges in the 1998 incident were later dismissed by the district attorney’s office, which cited an inability to prove the case.

Thursday’s jury was only informed of limited details in the 1998 case concerning the immediate alleged attack on Belinda Livingston in the presence of the child, according to deputy District Dttorney Brian Rossiter.

The jury deliberated for less than an hour, returning its verdict just before 4 p.m. Thursday.

Livingston and his attorney declined comment on the verdict.

County Court Judge Chris Leroi ordered Livingston to a pre-sentence probation report and an anger-management evaluation. Because he was acquitted on the charge of harassment against his wife, he was not ordered to a domestic-violence evaluation. Sentencing is set for Aug. 7.

Livingston faces a maximum penalty of two years in jail and $5,750 in fines for the convictions.