After refusing to appear in 22nd Judicial District Court on July 31, Shane French showed up for his preliminary hearing on Tuesday after being arrested in May on suspicion of menacing with a deadly weapon and assault on a peace officer.
French’s arraignment is set for Tuesday, Aug. 26 at 1:30 p.m. in Montezuma County Combined Courts in Cortez.
Officer Koltan Guttridge on Tuesday testified about the May 29 events during questioning by Assistant District Attorney Justin Pierce.
According to Guttridge, he, Sgt. Brent Jarmon and officer Kadan Sharp responded to a home on Texas Street after a report of a disturbance from French’s mother, Patti French.
As officers arrived, French allegedly yelled, “Do you want to fight?” before leaving the residence and confronting the officers on Empire Street with a knife.
He also allegedly asked officers, “Do you want to get shot?”
After dropping the knife, French then reportedly held up an item that resembled a firearm. Photos of the item were provided to Chief Judge Todd Plewe.
During cross-examination by French attorney Ben Krumpelman, body camera footage from Guttridge, Jarmon and Sharp was shown to the courtroom.
In the footage, the voices of the officers could be heard demanding that French “drop the knife.” The officers also attempted to calm French down.
“We don’t want to fight, we just want to get you some help, man,” one officer said.
“We’re here to help” also could be heard through the camera footage.
According to police reports, Guttridge left the scene to obtain a search and arrest warrant after French went back inside the house. Once the warrant was acquired, officers entered the home provided by Patti French at 10:16 p.m.
The reports alleged that French attempted to block their entry and struggled against them inside. A search revealed a pipe with suspected meth residue and a gun-shaped lighter. Additional drug paraphernalia was found during a hospital evaluation and search of the residence.
During Pierce’s closing remarks to Plewe, he said the body camera footage “clearly show he (French) knew what he was doing” by causing officers to fear that danger was imminent, adding that through the item turned out not to be a gun, it was brandished like a gun, making them believe it was one at first.
Krumpelman said French was too far from the officers and that a fence separating them, estimated by Guttridge to be about 4 feet tall or shorter, would have kept French from hurting officers with the knife.
Krumpelman argued that there wasn’t enough probable cause for all six counts brought against French, but Plewe disagreed. Though Plewe said the charges regarding the simulated firearm were weaker than the charges involving the knife, he bound over all counts for French’s upcoming arraignment.
In 2020, a jury convicted French of threatening his parole officer with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to three years in prison and two years of parole. Later that year, the Colorado Court of Appeals requested that the sentencing be reversed and remanded and a new trial be held after claims that French was protecting himself from someone he thought was a trespasser.
In 2014, he was charged with assault and resisting arrest, but a jury cleared him of all charges. French and his family filed a lawsuit for the arrest in 2016 against the city of Cortez and a number of the Cortez Police Department officers. The parties reached a settlement after the French family claimed that officers illegally entered their home without consent.
