Teen drinkers plead guilty to refiled charges

Teen drinkers plead guilty to refiled charges

Jan. 25, 2000

by David Grant Long

Four teenage boys, including two sons of Montezuma County Sheriff Joey Chavez, pleaded guilty yesterday in Dove Creek to charges that had been dismissed by District Attorney Mike Green in November and re-filed by the Colorado State Patrol over Green's protest.

In return for deferred prosecutions, three of the defendants pleaded guilty to underage drinking and the fourth pleaded guilty to careless driving on charges that stemmed from a roll-over accident on a Forest Service Road 30 miles north of Dolores last October.

They each were fined $100 and ordered to perform 15 hours of community service.

Colorado State Trooper David Van Bibber, who investigated the early-morning crash a few hours after it occurred, had cited all the suspects for consumption of alcohol after they admitted they'd been drinking beer, according to his affidavit requesting the charges be revived. The driver was also cited for the traffic offense.

When they appeared in court Nov. 7, however, Dolores County Judge Bob Johnson balked at the terms of the plea bargains Green had worked out with the defendants because they did not include the usual fines or community service, and Green then moved to dismiss the charges entirely.

When Van Bibber learned of the dismissals, he asked Green for an explanation, according to his affidavit, and was told the action had nothing to do with the trooper's case or the fact that two of the defendants were the sheriff's children.

"Mr. Green said that he `screwed up if there was a screw-up,' that `it just didn't work,' " Van Bibber stated.

"I told Mr. Green I didn't understand why my cases kept getting dismissed based on mistakes generated in the DA's office," he said, "and that I thought it sent the wrong message to violators."

Green told Sgt. Jerry Wiseman, Van Bibber's supervisor, that he would dismiss the charges again if they were re-filed, the affidavit noted, but Wiseman told the trooper to re-file them anyway, and Johnson found that there was "probable cause" for the cases to be re-activated.

Green then pledged to prosecute the cases "pursuant to Colorado state law," but challenged the validity of Van Bibber's affidavit, maintaining it did not meet the requirements of the relevant statute.

Johnson decided otherwise, however, and the terms of the new plea bargains were worked out with Scott Moore and Jim Preston, Green's deputy district attorneys. The judge explained in court Monday that he had rejected the original plea agreements because they were not "consistent" with the penalties he'd meted out for similar offenses during his 19 years on the bench.

The charges will be dismissed at the end of the six-month deferments if their conditions, which include an alcohol-education class sponsored by the CSP, are met.