{"id":93010,"date":"2019-07-11T18:18:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T18:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-homeless-man-faces-life-in-prison-for-sexually-assaulting-child\/"},"modified":"2019-07-11T18:18:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T18:18:00","slug":"durango-homeless-man-faces-life-in-prison-for-sexually-assaulting-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-homeless-man-faces-life-in-prison-for-sexually-assaulting-child\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango homeless man faces life in prison for sexually assaulting child"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A 31-year-old man who was living homeless in Durango may spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced Wednesday for sexually assaulting a child.<\/p>\n

Johnathan Michael Wright was found guilty in December of seven counts of sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a child for acts committed in November and December 2017.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, 6th Judicial District Court Judge Suzanne Carlson sentenced Wright to 28 years to life in prison. Because of Colorado\u2019s indeterminate-to-life sentencing guidelines for high-level sexual assault crimes, it will ultimately be up to a parole board to decide if Wright is ever released.<\/p>\n

After an evaluation, Wright was also labeled as a \u201csexually violent predator.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, the public needs to know this type of behavior will be punished seriously,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cThe sentence needs to be long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputy District Attorney Sean Murray said Wright was living homeless in a tent in Durango, panhandling as his main source of income.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Wright is believed to have started a sexual relationship with a high school girl who he convinced to drop out of school. He is also suspected of giving her marijuana and LSD, and forcing her to send him sexually explicit pictures.<\/p>\n

Murray pointed to Wright\u2019s past criminal history, which includes sexual crimes. Murray said Wright, after an evaluation, tested high as someone who would recommit sexual and violent crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a message to our community,\u201d Murray said, \u201cthat people who have sex with children will go to jail for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlson agreed, saying: \u201cI really believe if we let him out, he\u2019d go do it again, and right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Wright, speaking to Carlson, said \u201cmy past doesn\u2019t technically define who I am. My integrity does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wright told the judge he has made \u201cirresponsible choices\u201d in his life but has never denied them. He said he had a difficult upbringing, an addiction to methamphetamine and mental health issues.<\/p>\n

He asked for a lesser sentence so that he would qualify for treatment sooner.<\/p>\n

Carlson denied granting reduced prison time, but said the Department of Corrections is making strides in providing treatment to inmates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want him to be safer for our community, but right now, he\u2019s not a safe person for our community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Wright\u2019s public defender, Mary Pero, said she intends to appeal his conviction.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johnathan Michael Wright labeled \u2018sexually violent predator\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5855,5796,5737,5736,5735,5741],"tags":[1078,168,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-93010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-6th-judicial-district","category-crime","category-headlines","category-local-news","category-news","category-newsletter","tag-6th-judicial-district","tag-crime","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93010","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=93010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93010"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=93010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}