A man accused of stabbing his girlfriend, breaking into his former wife’s home and endangering a child faces charges including attempted second-degree murder after a hearing Thursday in Montezuma County Court.
The defendant, 29-year-old Christopher Wheat, was charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, felony menacing, aggravated motor vehicle theft in the second degree, child abuse and obstructing a police officer.
The remaining four charges are “crime of violence sentence enhancers” related to the charges of first-degree assault and attempted second-degree murder, District Attorney Matthew Margeson told The Journal. In Colorado, judges may impose enhanced sentences on individuals convicted of violent crimes if the offender used a deadly weapon or caused serious bodily injury.
“These are extremely serious charges,” Margeson said in court Thursday morning. “The defendant, in the peoples’ opinion, did everything in his power to attempt to kill an individual, stabbing her multiple times with a knife, so much so that the knife actually broke. The defendant stole a vehicle after that. After taking that vehicle, and the keys for that vehicle, at knifepoint, the defendant returned later with the vehicle. When police officers arrived, he grabbed his son and put him in a very dangerous situation. Hence the child abuse charges that are filed in this case.”
Wheat’s bond was set at $500,000.
Montezuma County Court Judge JenniLynn Lawrence said Wheat was a “genuine flight risk” because of the severity of the charges and the strength of the evidence.
“That degree of flight risk, that degree of culpability on the underlying offense, paired together with the fact that Mr. Wheat at the time had two cases pending before this court, albeit traffic cases, fully justifies the bond that was set in this case,” Lawrence said.
Wheat’s preliminary hearing in Montezuma County Court is scheduled for March 4.
anicotera@the-journal.comThis article was republished on Jan. 22 to correctly report that Christopher Wheat’s bond was set at $500,000.