Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Rupert man admits to stabbing his boss

Defendant waives self-defense claim in ‘hay hook’ altercation


By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

Gavin Wade Freeman

A Rupert man reluctantly pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated battery for stabbing his boss in the neck with a hay hook last winter.

"Actually, I just want to get on with my life," 29-year-old Gavin Wade Freeman said in Blaine County 5th District Court. " But I did what I did. I stabbed him."

Freeman said his boss, Mark William Clifford, was "choking me from behind" when he lashed out with the hay hook. Freeman said he was pleading guilty because the Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney's Office offered him a "reasonable" plea agreement.

Judge Robert J. Elgee questioned Freeman thoroughly to make sure he understood the consequences of a guilty plea.

"If you plead now and don't like the outcome, you can't come back later and take your plea back," Elgee said. "Whether you acted in self-defense is a defense you give up by pleading guilty. If you use force that goes beyond the self-defense, then the self-defense argument goes away."

The Blaine County Sheriff's Office reported that the stabbing occurred on the evening of Feb. 2. Freeman was working for Clifford, who was 37 at the time. The men were removing snow from roofs in the Cold Springs area south of Ketchum.

The sheriff's office stated that Freeman broke one of Clifford's snow shovels. Clifford reportedly fired him on the spot and told him he'd have to pay for the shovel.

An altercation ensued. Clifford got stabbed in the neck. He was treated for his wound at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center and was released from the hospital the following day.

A hay hook is a metal tool about five inches long with a handle, typically used for picking up hay bales.

Blaine County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Fredback said the hook went "through the back of his( Clifford's) neck and out the front of his neck," but caused no major damage.

Under the plea agreement, Freeman would receive a seven-year suspended prison sentence and be placed on three years' probation. If Freeman completes his probation to the satisfaction of the court, then the conviction can be removed from his record.

Elgee is not required to follow the prosecutor's recommendation and could sentence Freeman to up to 15 years in prison. Sentencing was scheduled for 9 a.m. on Sept. 29.




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