Baker, Westfall receive prison time
By JOSH MCDONALD,
Staff Reporter and
CHANSE WATSON,
Managing Editor
WALLACE — Shoshone County’s Law Day on July 11 at the Shoshone County Courthouse featured 24 cases being presented before Judge Scott Wayman. Of those cases, 16 involved drug-related charges, two involved violent crimes, six involved property crimes, one involved sexual crimes, three involved driving infractions, two involved a DUI, one involved misuse of public funds and one involved a probation violation (several cases involved multiple types of charges).
Among these cases was the sentencing portion of the case against 40-year-old Jarrett Baker, who previously plead guilty to charges of possession of a controlled substance, battery on a correctional officer, and attempting to elude a police officer.
The charges against Baker stemmed from an arrest that was made on Sept. 27 of last year, where Baker led law enforcement on a high-speed chase through Osburn that reached speeds of 117 miles per hour before he left his vehicle and had a brief standoff with a Shoshone County Sheriff’s Deputy.
Baker was sentenced by Judge Wayman to seven years in the Idaho State Penitentiary — four years concurrently for each of the three charges, with a fifth year indeterminate for battery and attempted eluding, and three years indeterminate for the possession charge. He will receive credit for time served (288 days) and also have his driver’s license suspended for three years following his release.
The accused was stoic during his sentencing, as Shoshone County prosecutor Keisha Oxendine discussed the nature of Baker’s crimes, as well as her feelings concerning Baker’s history of legal issues that includes multiple parole violations.
Oxendine also presented a brief video taken from the body camera of the arresting officer the night of Baker’s arrest.
The video showed a clearly agitated Baker cursing at police officers and pounding on the trunk of his car while attempting to avoid being taken into custody.
“The fact that this is his (Baker’s) second parole violation indicates that for the protection of society a substantial fixed sentence needs to be imposed in this case,” Oxendine said. “The parole commission continues to parole Mr. Baker and give him opportunities in this community and he continues to violate, abscond, and act out in situations that pose a risk to this community and its citizens.”
The prosecutor went even further to highlight Baker’s criminal history of 35 misdemeanor convictions and two felony convictions prior to his sentencing on Wednesday. She argued it made him unsuitable for any sort of probation or retained jurisdiction in this situation.
“He has had multiple opportunities at treatment through his criminal history and he has not taken advantage of it,” Oxendine said. “He is an ongoing risk to society, he is a danger to law enforcement, and he is a danger to the citizens that live in the community.”
Baker’s public defender, James McMillan, attempted to sway the judge toward the aforementioned treatment, instead of prison time, by using witnesses to call upon Baker’s improved character since being arrested. Testimonies to Baker’s character were heard from his mother, girlfriend and representatives from the treatment center that he had made contact with while in the custody of SCSO.
Ultimately though, Wayman decided that Baker needed a stiffer sentence than what McMillan had worked toward.
The judge also went out of his way to compliment the law enforcement officers from the video, who demonstrated a vast amount of self-control and restraint in such a high stress situation.
“While watching that (the video) it occurred to me that the police did a remarkable job. The restraint they showed was exceptional because we can certainly see that situation growing into something much more dangerous had the police not reacted with the restraint they did,” Wayman said. “We see a lot of newscasts showing the police overreacting to things and it made me proud to see the local police reacting as they did here.”
Earlier in the day, 46-year-old John Allen Westfall was also sentenced to an 8½ prison sentence, including 1½ years fixed and seven indeterminate, after pleading guilty to a charge of forcible penetration by use of a foreign object.
Westfall was arrested on Oct. 10, 2017, for charges of forcible sexual penetration by use of foreign object using violence, sexual crime against nature and sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult.
He initially pled not guilty to those charges in November 2017, but changed his plea to guilty for the forcible penetration charge earlier this month.
Court records indicate that Westfall has a history of various violent crimes in the past, including an aggravated assault charge that he was found guilty of in 1997 that resulted in an 18-month prison sentence.
In addition to these cases, former Shoshone County Coroner Kelli Jane Garcia pled not guilty to the seven separate “Misuse of Public Funds by a Public Officer or Public Employee” felony charges being brought against her by the Idaho Attorney General’s Office.
According to the criminal complaint provided by the Attorney General’s Office, Garcia is charged with violating Idaho Codes 18-5701(10) and 18-5702(2) on seven different occasions.
I.C. 18-5701(10) defines the crime as, “Knowingly using any public moneys, or financial transaction card, financial transaction card account number or credit account issued to or for the benefit of any governmental entity to make any purchase, loan, guarantee or advance of moneys for any personal purpose or for any purpose other than for the use or benefit of the governmental entity.”
18-5702(2) further states that anyone who violates this law “is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000, or by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than five (5) years, or by both, if the amount of public moneys misused is less than $300.”
In situations such as this, the determination of whether the charges are misdemeanors or felonies depends not on the amount of money spent (in this case, under $300 in each instance), but the position that the accused holds in the government entity.
Since her former position as Shoshone County coroner included the responsibility of managing public moneys, Garcia’s charges are leveled as felonies. As per Idaho Code, public employees who commit the same crime, but do not have this responsibility, are only charged with misdemeanors.
The criminal complaint reveals little details as to what the state believes she spent government moneys on, but Counts I and II do have slightly more information than the rest.
The ending of Count I reads: “the Defendant, while holding public office as the appointed Shoshone County Coroner, used a credit card issued to Shoshone County for a personal purchase at Sleep Inn, all in violation of 1.0 §§ 18-5701(10) and 18-5702(2).”
The ending of County II reads: “the Defendant, while holding public office as the appointed Shoshone County Coroner, used a credit card issued to Shoshone County for a personal purchase at Yoke’s Fresh Market, all in violation of I.C. §§ 18-5701(10) and 18-5702(2).”
The remaining counts do not list any specifics and simply say that she spent money and violated the codes.
The time frame of when the crimes were supposedly committed spans all the way back to mid-July 2017; the most recent being the first two counts occurring on or about Oct. 19, 2017.
Garcia’s pre-trial conference is set for 9 a.m. Nov. 26 and her jury trial is scheduled for at 9 a.m. Dec. 11 in the Shoshone County Courthouse.