{"id":71757,"date":"2017-03-03T00:54:10","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T07:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/knapp-gets-7-years-in-domestic-violence-case\/"},"modified":"2017-03-03T07:54:10","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T07:54:10","slug":"knapp-gets-7-years-in-domestic-violence-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/knapp-gets-7-years-in-domestic-violence-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Knapp gets 7 years in domestic violence case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"
du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Before handing Josh Knapp a 7-year prison sentence on Thursday in a domestic violence case, Montezuma District Court Judge Todd Plewe said he saw Knapp\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a seed of goodness and greatness inside of you, but you poisoned that seed with alcohol,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Knapp, 34, was found guilty after a January trial<\/a> on felony counts of second-degree assault causing serious bodily injury and illegal discharge of a firearm, as well as misdemeanor counts of menacing, criminal mischief, third-degree assault, reckless endangerment and use of a firearm under the influence and harassment.<\/p>\n

A March 29, 2016, report from Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office Deputy Brian Harrison alleged that Knapp \u201ccontinuously assaulted\u201d a 32-year-old woman for hours on the evening of March 28 at her home south of Dolores, while her children also were there.<\/p>\n

Knapp was acquitted of stalking, two other counts of third-degree assault, two counts of child abuse and unlawful sexual contact.<\/p>\n

The conviction carried a mandatory 5-to-16-year sentence in the Department of Corrections, District Attorney Will Furse said.<\/p>\n

Plewe said the maximum, 16-year sentence would be a waste of a life. He said he issued a sentence above the minimum because there were children present during the incident and Knapp used a gun.<\/p>\n

The trial took place from Jan. 9-13 in Montezuma District Court with a 13-member jury, including nine women and four men.<\/p>\n

More than 50 people filled the courtroom Thursday afternoon for the sentencing hearing, which lasted for about 2\u00bd hours.<\/p>\n

Dozens of spectators appeared in support of Knapp and the victim in the case. Five people shared statements in support of Knapp, and three spoke in support of the victim.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the judge Thursday, Knapp said alcohol brought out anger and jealousy in him on the night of the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no excuse for my actions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said he has been sober for about a year. He said he had lost time with his family and his construction business as a result of his actions, and he would miss the birth of a son while in prison.<\/p>\n

He apologized to the victim, her children and his own family members.<\/p>\n

According to the sheriff\u2019s office report, the alleged victim told officers Knapp struck her with a camouflage long gun and a broken towel rod.<\/p>\n

She was transported to Southwest Memorial Hospital with pain in her back, legs and ribs, the report states. The house was in disarray when officers responded to the scene, according to the report.<\/p>\n

During the trial, Knapp denied hitting, kicking or biting the alleged victim. He said he never hit her with a gun or a towel rod, and he denied unlawful sexual contact.<\/p>\n

Knapp at first testified that he broke the alleged victim\u2019s nose, but later said he did not know how it got broken.<\/p>\n

He testified that he was upset earlier in the day because he thought the alleged victim was talking to a former boyfriend. He was drinking during the afternoon, and he broke a vase and a glass bottle in the house, according to his testimony.<\/p>\n

Plewe told Knapp that alcohol leads to domestic violence, and alcohol is what brought him to court.<\/p>\n

The judge said he was moved by statements made by those who supported Knapp. After issuing the sentence, Plewe told the defendant to turn around and face his family members.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get out, and you show these people you\u2019re deserving of the love they have for you,\u201d Plewe said.<\/p>\n

He said Knapp needed to treat women with respect and could no longer drink alcohol.<\/p>\n

In a statement to the court, the victim\u2019s 9-year-old son said Knapp had told him he would grow up to be abusive too. He said Knapp hurt his mother, sister and him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe tore our family apart,\u201d the son said.<\/p>\n

Brenda Knapp, the defendant\u2019s mother, told the judge she had dealt with the loss of their son Kyle, who was killed in a September 2016 car crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving lost one son, you can imagine our panic \u2026 at the thought of losing Josh for any length of time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her family needed Knapp\u2019s presence in their lives, she said.<\/p>\n

Knapp\u2019s attorney Katie Whitney called for the minimum sentence of five years. She said Knapp had already made it far down the road to recovery, but was frustrated it would not continue while in prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to get any meaningful treatment in prison,\u201d Whitney said.<\/p>\n

The defense attorney said it had been an emotional case, but Knapp could come out of it a better person.<\/p>\n

Furse asked the judge to impose an 8-year sentence and said probation should be part of the sentence. He said the case represented what domestic violence can result in \u2013 not just one or two victims, but a room full of people affected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hopeful that Knapp will take time \u2026 and give penitence for what happened,\u201d Furse said.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor said he felt sympathy for both families and was optimistic that Knapp would come out of prison able to be a better husband and father. He said it is not common to see a courtroom full of people supporting those involved in a case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis should represent closure, a day of healing and moving forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

jacobk@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

in court to support defendant and victim; judge cites effect of alcohol<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,13,60],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-71757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-montezuma-county"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71757","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=71757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71757"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=71757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}