A Blaine County man convicted in 2008 of video voyeurism involving a 13-year-old Hailey girl has now admitted to attempting to strangle his former girlfriend in Bellevue in 2009.
According to court records, 21-year-old Joshua Charon Jones pleaded guilty earlier this month to attempted strangulation, a felony punishable in Idaho by up to 15 years in prison. He faces sentencing on that charge on Nov. 23.
Jones also faces an evidentiary hearing on Dec. 1 on the earlier video voyeurism case. At stake is his withheld judgment, under which the conviction could be removed from his record upon successful completion of probation.
Jones was one of three Blaine County men convicted of video voyeurism for using their cell phone cameras to record video images of a 13-year-old girl stripping and dancing nude for them in 2007 at Jones' apartment in Hailey. In addition to the withheld judgment, Jones was placed on three years probation and sentenced to a suspended five-year prison sentence.
Since sentencing in February 2008, Jones has been charged three times with probation violation by the Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. The latest charge came as a result of criminal complaint filed on July 7 charging Jones with attempting to strangle his 21-year-old former girlfriend at his home in Bellevue.
He was also charged with misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment and intentional destruction of communications equipment (applicable when someone is attempting to make an emergency call). Both charges will be dismissed in accord with a plea agreement with the prosecutor's office.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in that case by Blaine County Sheriff's Deputy Antonio Muñoz, Jones asked the woman to come to his home to talk and the attack occurred when she referred to Jones in a racially derogatory manner.
Jones was being held on $100,000 bond each on both the later and earlier charges, but Judge Robert J. Elgee reduced bond to $5,000 in each case at a hearing Monday morning.
Defense attorney Keith Roark argued that Jones has employment lined up at a local coffee shop and that he will live with his mother, at least until sentencing.
"The onus is on Mr. Jones" to stay out of trouble, Roark said. "It is in fact true that Mr. Jones has been involved in things that violated his probation and eventually led to a new crime."
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Fredback, argued against reducing bond, stating that "it's clear that he is incapable of following the rules of probation." Specifically, Fredback said Jones has "been involved in several fights" since being placed on probation in 2008.
Elgee admonished Jones to stay out of trouble.
"If you can't live with your mother—if you get in a fight with her—you have to go back to jail," Elgee said. "You can't live anywhere else."
Jones hadn't posted bond by Tuesday morning and remained incarcerated in the Blaine County jail.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
Joshua Charon Jones
