Man pleads guilty, sentenced to six years in assault case
A man accused of breaking a car window and attempting to stab the driver was sentenced to prison Wednesday.
Kevin Ray, 41, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and a crime of violence sentence enhancer.
On Wednesday,
Ray was sentenced by Boulder District
Judge Thomas Mulvahill to six years in the Colorado Department of Corrections followed by two years of mandatory parole.
Following a pre-sentence investigation, Ray was not approved for community corrections, which limited Mulvahill’s options to essentially prison or probation.
While acknowledging prison would not provide Ray the type of rehabilitation he could benefit from, Mulvahill said it was the only viable option given the nature of the case and Ray’s criminal history.
“The conduct here is incredibly serious, and it is the tail end of a lengthy, persistent, serious criminal history,” Mulvahill said.
Mulvahill noted Ray now has eight felonies and 23 misdemeanor convictions on his record and was deemed a high risk to reoffend by a pre-sentence report.
“I’m sorry to have to say that, but at this point even considering all of the sentencing factors, I just can’t take the risk of having you in the community right now,” Mulvahill said. “At this point in your life and in your criminal career, the only option I have is to sentence you to the Department of Corrections.”
According to an arrest affidavit, Boulder officers were dispatched the morning of Sept. 25, 2020, for a menacing call in the 4700 block of Pearl East Circle.
The named victim said a man, later identified as Ray, broke his car window and pulled a knife on him, and then ran into the bushes.
The man said he arrived at his job and that when he was about to exit his vehicle, Ray broke the driver side window with the back end of a black knife. The man told police
Ray then reached into the vehicle with the knife “and started to thrust with stabbing motions at him.”
The man was not injured during the incident and was able to back his vehicle away, but said Ray followed the vehicle and threw a large tree branch at the front of the car, according to the affidavit.
Boulder Deputy District Attorney Kelsey Waldorf said the named victim in the case actually did not want a prison sentence and would have liked to see Ray go to community corrections in a halfway house.
But while she acknowledged mental health and substance abuse were factors in the case, Waldorf said Ray was not a fit for probation, as he has never been able to successfully complete probation on any of his previous cases.
“Frankly, we also believe the facts of the case and how aggravated it was… means that a sentence to the Department of Corrections is justified and it’s the proper sentence,” Waldorf said.
Ray spoke at the hearing, apologizing for his actions and saying that he had found religion and was getting treatment at the Boulder County Jail through its programs.
“I would like to sincerely apologize for what I have done,” Ray said. “I take small steps every day to make sure something like this will never happen again.”
Defense attorney Sam Dunn said he was “disappointed” community corrections would not accept Ray, and lobbied for probation. Dunn also pitched the Fort Lyon Supportive Residential Community in Las Animas, which provides recovery oriented transitional housing through the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless.
Mulvahill said he had heard of the program and considered it, but said the fact that he could not make Ray attending the program a mandatory condition of probation was a “deal breaker.”
“It’s a good idea, but it doesn’t fit at this time and place, it just doesn’t,” Mulvahill said.
But Mulvahill said he saw that Ray is in a better place than he was a year ago, and urged Ray to remember the facility when he gets out of prison.
“I’m glad you’re in a better place now,” Mulvahill said. “When you come back out, I hope that you remember that Fort Lyon is there.”
Ray will get credit for 774 days of time served. He was remanded into the custody of the Boulder County Jail to await transfer to the Colorado Department of Corrections.