Three sentenced in court

In Hot Springs District Court Monday Christopher Mitchell of Cody was sentenced for theft of an automobile, for a Sept. 5, 2017 incident during which he stole a truck from Billie Jo Norsworthy. Mitchell was later picked up in Riverton, and pleaded guilty to the local theft charge on March 19.

Though sentenced in Hot Springs County to three to five years in prison, Mitchell is also facing charges in Park County and Washakie County. According to reports from the initial incident, the pursuit of Mitchell originated in Park before going across Washakie, Hot Springs and Fremont counties. The sentences he receives in the other two counties will be concurrent with the one here.

Judge Robert Skar encouraged Mitchell to take advantage of the enhanced drug or alcohol treatment programs available to him in prison. Prior to court recessing, Mitchell apologized to the victims in the incident and anyone he may have impacted.

Timothy Ott was sentenced to three years supervised probation for possession of a controlled substance. The charge is from an Aug. 13, 2017 incident during which Ott was in possession of marijuana. He pleaded guilty to the charge on April 2. Though facing a prison term of one to three years, that sentence was suspended for the probation. Ott pointed out he is not a bad person, has had no recent trouble with law enforcement and sending him to prison would only be a setback.

Tamera Rollins was sentenced to four years of probation for wrongful disposal of property. The charge is from an Aug. 14, 2017 incident in which Rollins was allegedly in possession of a stolen vehicle. She pleaded no contest to the charge on March 12 and was facing three to six years in prison, but that was suspended in favor of probation.

Rollins asked for another chance to prove she can function well in society. She noted she has applied for drug counseling. Judge Skar said she had quite a record and he didn’t want to see her make the mistake of violating her probation.

Sharing a personal experience, the judge said he buried his daughter who died due to drug and alcohol use. He cautioned if Rollins did not change her behavior she could wind up in prison or dead.

Also in District, a plea agreement in a case against Jared Dumas was not accepted. According to the agreement, Dumas would plead guilty to felony strangulation of a household member and misdemeanor second-offense domestic battery.

The charges are from an Oct. 25, 2017 incident, during which Dumas allegedly strangled Jolen Dodd, slammed her against the wall and threw her to the floor. In exchange for his plea, Dumas would be sentenced to four years of probation with the requirement he must attend a minimum of four sessions of anger management. Should he fail the probation, he was looking at six years or more in prison.

Dumas said the anger management would help him be a better life partner and father, as well as an active member of society. He added he wanted to be able to put this “speed bump” behind him.

Dodd spoke on Dumas’ behalf, as she believes the anger management is what he needs and it will help him work on his troubles.

Judge Skar didn’t like Dumas referring to the incident as a “speed bump” and emphasized the charges are serious while questioning whether Dumas understood the scope of his actions. Dumas noted he’s been in counseling twice before, once for behavior modification and once in a men’s recovery group for drug use. Drugs — specifically methamphetamine — were involved in the Oct. 25 incident with him and Dodd, and Dumas said it was a relapse.

Skar rejected the plea agreement as he was unsure if probation was the best course of action for Dumas.