A July 12 jury trial has been scheduled for a 23-year-old Hailey man accused of two felonies for an alleged physical confrontation with his girlfriend in February.
Ricardo Juarez-Castro was arraigned Monday in Blaine County 5th District Court on felony charges of attempted strangulation and domestic violence inflicting traumatic injury. He is also charged with a misdemeanor count of intentional destruction of a telecommunications instrument for allegedly seizing his girlfriend's cell phone during the confrontation.
Juarez-Castro pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
Judge Robert J. Elgee advised him that attempted strangulation is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, felony domestic violence by 10 years in prison and destruction of a telecommunications instrument by a year in the county jail.
Juarez-Castro is currently free on $25,000 bond. The Roark Law Firm in Hailey has been appointed public defender.
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A probable-cause affidavit filed by Hailey police Patrolman Charles Cox states that he was called to the couple's home at the Baldy View Apartments in southeast Hailey on the morning of Feb. 6 because of a complaint about "someone yelling in the apartment."
Upon entering the home, Cox wrote that he found the woman crying and Juarez-Castro complaining that his girlfriend wouldn't give him the keys to his vehicle.
Cox alleged in the affidavit that Juarez-Castro choked the woman, slapped and punched her in the face and "threw her onto the couch in the living room." Cox further wrote that the woman told him that Juarez-Castro "threatened to hurt her and her daughter if she called police."
Cox also wrote that the woman had bruises on her neck and arms.
Juarez-Castro was then arrested and transported to the Blaine County jail.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
Ricardo Juarez-Castro
