The Grand Junction Sentinel’s Paul Shockley with the latest update in the case(s) of Jared Wright, the GOP HD-54 candidate who resigned from the Fruita Police Department after allegations of chronic tardiness and (more importantly) dishonesty about his whereabouts.
Mesa County Judge Craig Henderson has issued a stay of sentence, delaying penalties he ordered in late June, in order to hear arguments for a new trial in an impaired-driving case resting on testimony from former Fruita police officer Jared Wright, the embattled Republican candidate for House District 54.
Rebecca Palmquist, 39, was sentenced to serve two years probation, 90 jails of suspended jail time, pay $600 in fines and complete 68 hours of alcohol-education classes after she was convicted of driving while ability impaired on June 20 by a six-person jury.
Palmquist refused to submit to chemical sobriety testing when she was pulled over by Wright last September, so the trial consisted largely of “Ms. Palmquist’s word against Officer Wright’s,” Deputy Public Defender Elsa Archambault wrote in a motion for a new trial.
Obviously we have no idea whether Ms. Palmquist had been drinking when she was stopped by then-Officer Wright last September. What we do know is that in the American adversarial justice system, especially in the absence of physical evidence, the credibility of the law enforcement officer whose word forms the basis of the charge is absolutely paramount.
When that credibility is called into question, of course defense attorneys jump into action.
A good bit of this “credibility” stuff also applies to state legislators, and like Wright’s predecessor Laura Bradford can tell you, sometimes it matters a lot. Even in a safe district…
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Is there any way a Democrat could win – even if Wright abandons his run?
There’s no Democrat in the race and it’s far too late to get one. But it’s irrelevant. The registration numbers make it next-to-impossible, which is why there’s no Democrat running.
in this race; Tim W. Menger, Libertarian candidate who is attracting bipartisan support from his district. The irony of politics in Mesa County is that this Libertarian candidate has a very good chance of doing what the Democrats have not been able to do; break the GOP choke-hold right in the heart of their stronghold. Mr. Menger’s respect for the environment is attractive to Democrats. His Libertarian views are attractive to Independents and his fiscal conservatism is attractive to conservatives.
He already has the endorsement of his district’s two largest Tea Parties and if the local paper is to be believed, he also has the endorsement of the Republican related Western Slope Conservative Alliance. Although there is some evidence of a difference of opinion between the rank and file members of Western Slope Conservative Alliance and their self appointed board of directors, some of whom also hold board positions in the Mesa County Republican Party who has dominated and controlled local politics for 136 years, according to their Vice Chair Kevin McCarney who also sits on the Western Slope Conservative Alliance board and who is actively campaigning for the embattled Republican pick Jared Wright the former Fruita Police officer who is currently campaigning under the cloud of reported credibility issues which has created the perfect storm that may sweep Mr. Menger into the House District 54 seat in a landslide victory.