DOUGLAS — Saying through his court-appointed public defender that he’s afraid for his life if he shows his face, a Converse County man facing 72 felony child sex and pornography charges failed to show up for his plea hearing Tuesday afternoon.
By no-showing his arraignment in Converse County District Court, John Charles Smallbone also forfeits the $250,000 cash someone posted on his behalf to get out of jail June 24.
“I waited a couple more minutes (to begin the hearing), and your client is not here,” Judge F. Scott Peasley said to Smallbone’s public defender, Denny Harts.
“He has expressed fear for his life,” Harts responded as about 25 people gathered in the second-floor courtroom at the Converse County Justice Center.
“I reassured him he would be safe, but he is not here,” Harts added.
Peasley then issued a new warrant for Smallbone’s arrest for missing his hearing, while Converse County Deputy Attorney Nathan Shumway said he had just filed new charges on top of the 72 Smallbone already faces.
Those new charges weren’t yet in the court system immediately after the hearing, which from start to finish took about three minutes.
On The Run
Already a wanted man, Smallbone should have already been in police custody and available for Tuesday’s arraignment, Shumway said.
The prosecutor referenced an incident in Colorado last week when a Fort Collins magistrate allowed Smallbone to walk out of the Larimer County Detention Center on his own recognizance instead of holding him on a fugitive warrant out of Wyoming.
“There were issues with executing our warrant in Colorado,” Shumway said, echoing the frustration Converse County Sheriff’s Office officials have expressed since Smallbone was released on Thursday.
Instead of having a man accused of committing dozens of illegal sex acts with kids in custody, “We’re out looking for him again,” Converse County Undersheriff Chris Walsh told Cowboy State Daily after Smallbone’s Colorado release. “And we’re going to find him again. The freedom clock on him is running out.”
Walsh said whatever snafu allowed a wanted man to be released didn’t happen on Converse County’s end of the transaction. He was just as surprised as everyone to learn Smallbone was released.
“We’d been working with investigators there in Larimer County; we provided them with all of our warrant information, all our affidavits,” Walsh told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.
Colorado DA Also Frustrated
Add the Larimer County District Attorney’s Office in Colorado to the list of agencies unhappy with the magistrate’s decision.
“Mr. Smallbone was taken into custody on a valid and active warrant out of Wyoming, which included dozens of allegations of sexual crimes against children,” agency spokesperson Kylie Masserman said in a Monday email to Cowboy State Daily.
Masserman confirmed Walsh’s account that “all required information to set bond was provided to the court.”
She said her office also asked Magistrate Heather Siegel to also issue a $250,000 cash-only bond for Smallbone.
That’s because the objective was “to keep him in custody until he could be transferred back to Wyoming to face his charges,” she said in the statement. “This request was consistent with what the Wyoming authorities requested and consistent with our practices on cases of this severity.”
Masserman said that instead, the personal recognizance bond was issued “contrary to our request.”
“The District Attorney’s Office strongly believes that this bond setting is dangerous and has put the communities in both Colorado and Wyoming at risk,” she said. “Giving a free pass to dangerous out-of-state offenders fleeing to Colorado sets a terrible precedent and risks further harm to the victims in the Wyoming case.’
When contacted by Cowboy State Daily on Friday to inquire about Smallbone’s bond, a staffer in Siegel’s office said the magistrate didn’t have that paperwork in front of her at the time of the hearing.
Ready For Anything
Meanwhile, Converse County officials were ready and waiting in case Smallbone did show up for his Tuesday hearing, or for any trouble that might ensue because of the nature of the allegations against him.
Sheriff Clint Becker was leaning on a rail outside the justice center ahead of the scheduled hearing, flanked by five deputies.
Three more deputies manned the security station just inside the front doors, and two Douglas cops were hanging out inside the courtroom.
While there were no emotional fireworks, Becker said he and his deputies were ready “just in case.”
It was the same inside the courtroom, which looked a bit like a shotgun wedding, with the 30 or so people watching from the gallery choosing to sit behind the prosecutor’s table.
Of the three people on the other side behind the public defender, two were reporters seated there for a better view of Smallbone in case he was in attendance.
Along with relaying his client’s fear for his life, public defender Harts also will have to continue representing Smallbone, at least for now.
While the Converse County Public Defender’s Office has filed a motion with Peasley to withdraw from the case, the judge said Tuesday he needs to talk to Smallbone in person before making a decision.
Smallbone was appointed a public defender to represent him when he was first charged with the 72 felony charges because he claimed he couldn’t afford an attorney on his own, according to the motion.
But after someone walked into the jail with a quarter of a million in cash to get him out of jail, he doesn’t qualify, the motion says.
“The defendant had the ability to post two hundred fifty thousand ($250,000) dollars cash in bond,” says the motion to reconsider the court appointment. “The defendant stated on his application for court-appointed counsel he had no ability to borrow money for his legal defense.”
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
