AURORA | A Bailey man who in March allegedly attacked a group of Community College of Aurora film students while using racially-charged language pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and harassment Tuesday.
When one of the students’ cars got stuck on the icy road near his home in rural Bailey, Jon Spencer, 29, reportedly confronted and attacked the group, after calling the driver a “dumb, Black b—h.” He was charged with two counts of third-degree assault and five counts of harassment. All charges are misdemeanors.
On Tuesday, Spencer remotely attended a hearing overseen by Park County Court Judge Brian Green, who along with one of the students, Malarie Stafford-Mustacchio, expressed frustration about the lack of progress in the case. Green said he was reluctant to further postpone Spencer entering a plea.
“If we do it again, it just starts to feel like this doesn’t even matter to the court or anybody else involved,” Stafford-Mustacchio said.
Defense attorney Ehren Penix said attorneys involved in the cases needed additional time to comply with the state’s Crime Victim Rights Act, which requires that victims of certain crimes be informed and permitted to be present during critical stages of the criminal justice process.
“They still need some additional time to do VRA and to contact those individuals prior to us coming to a resolution here,” Penix said. “We believe a resolution is forthcoming.”
Regardless, he entered a plea of not guilty on Spencer’s behalf after Green insisted on him submitting a plea. Green said the plea would not “prohibit the parties from negotiating.”
Green tentatively scheduled the jury trial on the matter to begin Feb. 2.
This was not an attack