{"id":24655,"date":"2024-11-27T23:09:16","date_gmt":"2024-11-28T06:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-man-is-sentenced-to-60-days-in-cowboy-menacing-case\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:58:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:58:28","slug":"cortez-man-is-sentenced-to-60-days-in-cowboy-menacing-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-man-is-sentenced-to-60-days-in-cowboy-menacing-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez man is sentenced to 60 days in cowboy menacing case"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"David
David Frederick was sentenced on Tuesday in the 22nd Judicial District. (Journal file photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

David Frederick was sentenced to 60 days in the Montezuma County Detention Center and given probation in the 22nd Judicial District after being found guilty of pointing a gun at a cowboy in December.<\/p>\n

At the start of his sentencing, both victims and supporters of Frederick were given the opportunity to address Chief Judge Todd Plewe.<\/p>\n

Christopher Jeter, the cowboy, said the incident had caused him fear as he goes about his work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could have died that day,\u201d Jeter wrote. \u201cHow much is he allowed to get away with before he kills somebody?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeter\u2019s son, Cole Jeter, also wrote a letter, expressing what it was like to see Frederick point a gun at his father\u2019s face. He wondered whether they would be safe when going to work and driving past Frederick\u2019s home each day.<\/p>\n

Others came in support of Frederick, vouching for his character.<\/p>\n

One man, named Jim, said he didn\u2019t recognize the man described by the victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t recognized the man all these complaints are against,\u201d he said. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen any of this in the times I\u2019ve been around Mr. Frederick.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that Frederick was \u201chonest and truthful\u201d and that he thought it was \u201crash\u201d for a first-time offense.<\/p>\n

A letter from Frederick\u2019s psychiatrist nurse practitioner included a look into some of the mental health challenges Frederick has been diagnosed with, including a traumatic brain injury.<\/p>\n

The psychiatrist noted that the brain injury can affect personality and behavior and can worsen as time goes on.<\/p>\n

Before his sentencing, Frederick was offered a deferred judgment by the district attorney\u2019s office, but it was rejected by Plewe because it did not include time in jail.<\/p>\n

Frederick also had a jury trial, and Plewe shared that the evidence shared in the jury trial was \u201coverwhelming\u201d and made it clear that Frederick had pointed the gun at Jeter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are solely here because you pointed a gun at someone\u2019s head,\u201d Plewe said. \u201cPeople who point guns at other people go to jail in my court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plewe went on to say that being \u201cangry or frustrated\u201d was not an excuse to point a gun at another person.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand you\u2019re frustrated, but you can\u2019t point guns at people,\u201d Plewe said while acknowledging Frederick\u2019s brain injury.<\/p>\n

Plewe sentenced Frederick to 60 days in jail and to probation after his jail time. While on probation, he is not permitted to be in possession of alcohol, and he will no longer be able to possess firearms, even after probation has ended.<\/p>\n

He must also adhere to the set protection orders and enroll in a traumatic brain injury support group.<\/p>\n

Plewe gave Frederick some time to make arrangements for his medication with the jail and for his livestock during his jail time. He was not permitted to acquire work release while in jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you anticipated going to jail,\u201d Plewe said.<\/p>\n

He will be required to report to jail Friday at 10 p.m.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred Dec. 30 near the 18000 block of Road 14.<\/p>\n

When Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s deputy Wrangler Hinton arrived after a report of menacing, he met Gayel Alexander, who told him that Frederick had pointed a gun at one of her cowboys while he was herding cows.<\/p>\n

The incident had allegedly taken place after some issues between Alexander and Frederick \u201cover gates through an easement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frederick allegedly approached the cowboys and began videoing them. When Jeter \u201cflipped\u201d Frederick off, he drove up to Jeter and his horse and pointed a black .357 Magnum at his head. Frederick cocked the hammer, according to the report.<\/p>\n

After Jeter reportedly put his hands up and kicked his horse to get away from Frederick, Frederick left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frederick was found guilty of pointing a gun at another man<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,168,28,60,29,76],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-crime","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter","tag-u-s-22nd-judicial-district"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24655","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=24655"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78622,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24655\/revisions\/78622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24655"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}