{"id":113984,"date":"2015-03-10T18:09:10","date_gmt":"2015-03-11T00:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/allmon-pleads-guilty-in-sex-case\/"},"modified":"2015-03-10T18:09:10","modified_gmt":"2015-03-11T00:09:10","slug":"allmon-pleads-guilty-in-sex-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/allmon-pleads-guilty-in-sex-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Allmon pleads guilty in sex case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Allmon\"
Allmon<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A convicted sex offender pleaded guilty to lesser charges Tuesday, moments before an eyewitness was expected to testify against him.<\/p>\n

As the second day of testimony was about to start on Tuesday, March 3, prosecutors and defense attorneys announced they had reached a plea agreement in a child sex-assault retrial. Charged in a six-count indictment, Andrew Allmon, 57, of Cortez pleaded guilty to felony attempted child sex assault and misdemeanor unlawful sexual contact charges.<\/p>\n

Incarcerated since his arrest in June 2013, Allmon is likely to be placed on three years of probation and credited with time served, according to the stipulated agreement. The defendant has remained in custody under a $30,000 bond since his arrest in June 2013. Sentencing was set for May 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter nearly two years of court proceedings, the victim and her family were able to hear Mr. Allmon admit to his unspeakable acts,\u201d District Attorney Will Furse said afterward. \u201cMr. Allmon\u2019s guilty plea marks a significant step toward the healing process, and the People do not disagree with the victim\u2019s decision to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connected to incidents that occurred at Allmon\u2019s home, the sex-assault charges included a pattern of abuse by the defendant, who supervised a child under the age of 15.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s plea talks were held outside the jury\u2019s presence. After jurors were advised that the trial had concluded and excused from service, public defenders Amy R. Smith and Kenneth Pace both declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Mistrial threatened<\/p>\n

The plea deal resulted after Chief District Court Judge Doug Walker threatened to declare a mistrial on Monday.<\/p>\n

During testimony from the victim\u2019s mother, Smith argued for the case to be tossed after the prosecution\u2019s first witness repeatedly provided inflammatory, prejudicial opinions from the witness box during a 20-minute span.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not offer any opinions as to whether anyone is telling the truth,\u201d Walker instructed the alleged victim\u2019s mother just before a noon recess.<\/p>\n

After lunch, the mother provided a third unsolicited opinion pertaining to her child\u2019s truthfulness. The judge again warned the witness that she could be held in contempt of court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI may jail you up to six months,\u201d said Walker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will have no choice but to grant a mistrial,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Victim testifies<\/p>\n

Wearing a black jump suit with pink stripes, the alleged victim, now 10, was partially hidden from view of Allmon when testifying. Asked if she could identify the defendant, she raised her head above the judge\u2019s bench and indicated that he was sitting to her right in the courtroom.<\/p>\n

Apparently nervous and possibly confused about the proceedings, the victim had limited recollection about the events in question. She recalled sitting next to Allmon on the day in question watching cartoons when the incident occurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was touching me,\u201d she testified on direct examination.<\/p>\n

On cross-examination, the victim said she had rehearsed her testimony with family members and prosecutors. She said practicing made it easier to remember.<\/p>\n

On re-direct, the victim said she understood the difference between the truth and a lie. She affirmed the assault occurred, bowing her head and wiping tears from her eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has taken a great deal of courage for our victim to come forward and endure the trial process,\u201d Furse said on Tuesday. \u201cI commend her for the willingness to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jury selection<\/p>\n

Six women and eight men were selected for jury duty last week in the new trial. Allmon was prosecuted after a hung jury earlier this year.<\/p>\n

During voir dire last week, potential jurors wrestled over whether they could be fair and impartial upon learning that Allmon pleaded guilty to child sex-assault charges in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cA bad egg is a bad egg,\u201d said one potential juror.<\/p>\n

During voir dire, which translates to \u201ctell the truth,\u201d a few potential jurors also relayed beliefs that a convicted sex offender might have a tendency to re-offend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in their nature,\u201d said a juror.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, 69 citizens appeared for the final round of jury selection, but several failed to show. The court indicated they would be required to appear and answer for their unexcused absence.<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

before witness takes stand<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,13,524,525],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-113984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-sexual-assault","tag-trials"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113984"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=113984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}