Trezise enters guilty plea to felony as part of agreement

Final decision slated for end of April

A visiting “senior judge” is taking under consideration a proposed plea agreement with Art Trezise, former Gunnison County deputy attorney, that will keep him out of jail while pleading guilty to the class five felony of being an accessory to a crime. As a result of the preliminary guilty plea, county attorney David Baumgarten has terminated Trezise from his job in the county attorney’s office.

The plea agreement was submitted on March 19 to judge W.T. Ruckriegle, who is presiding over the case, given Trezise’s employment with the county. As part of the proposed agreement, three other charges would be dismissed. Trezise would be responsible for any restitution and court costs.
In the plea agreement document signed by Trezise, Tresize would admit that last spring he “rendered assistance to Kendall Collins by warning Rodney Teem with intent to hinder, delay or prevent the discovery, detention, apprehension, prosecution, conviction and/or punishment of such person for the commission of a crime knowing that the person being assisted was suspected of the crime of Cultivation of Marijuana, a class 3 drug felony.”
Baumgarten fired Trezise the same day the plea agreement was submitted. In a memo to Trezise, Baumgarten said that based on the understanding “that, in District Court, Gunnison County, today you have entered a plea of guilty to a criminal felony. This letter is formal notice that your employment with Gunnison County as Deputy County Attorney is terminated contemporaneous with the acceptance by the Court of that plea.”
Ruckriegle made it clear at the March 19 hearing that he wanted a pre-sentence investigation (PSI) conducted that delves into the details of the case before he decides whether or not to accept the plea agreement. He also made it clear that he does not normally “accept plea dispositions with limitations on the court to incarceration.”
Ruckriegle is hesitant about having an aspect of the court proceedings that normally sits with a judge—in this case the potential of a jail sentence—taken out of his hands. A normal sentence for that type of class five felony would be one to three years in the state penitentiary under the Department of Corrections.
“If the court rejects that part of the agreement, the defendant could withdraw his guilty plea,” said special prosecutor Thom Le Doux. “From the people’s perspective, it is an appropriate agreement. It is a unique situation.”
La Doux said Trezise has been a contributing member of society, with no criminal record. “It is likely his employment will be terminated as a result of the guilty plea and he is likely to lose his license to practice law. He is in his mid-40s and he has a family to support. There are significant consequences to this so I felt it appropriate to not call for incarceration.”
Trezise attorney Christopher Decker told the court the two sides had worked hard to come to an appropriate agreement. “I agree this is a unique case in many ways,” he said. “The PSI should shed some light on the particulars. Given the profound impacts Mr. Trezise will encounter if it is accepted, his job, his age, his ability to support a family of five, we too think it is an appropriate disposition.”
“I like it all except the binding limitation on the court for incarceration. I have a long-standing policy to not accept dispositions that limit the court to incarceration,” Ruckriegle again emphasized. “Some judges agree and others disagree with that type of policy. When I sit as a senior judge in other districts I do tend to defer to the process they have, even though for me it creates a contradiction in my philosophy.”
It was related at the hearing that judges in Gunnison courts do accept plea dispositions that include terms of jail sentencing.
Many members of local law enforcement attended the hearing. The victim in the original Kendall Collins case that is ongoing and centers on sexual assault charges, also attended the hearing and submitted a victim’s impact statement that was read by Le Doux.
During a dramatic 15 minutes, Ruckriegle asked Trezise several questions about the plea agreement, which Trezise answered succinctly in a quiet courtroom setting.
A PSI is expected to take at least five weeks to complete. The sentencing hearing has been set for April 29 at 1 p.m.