Ex-school board head gets 3 years' probation
By Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published March 7, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.
The former Bennett school board president was sentenced Thursday to three years' probation for trespassing in his ex-wife's home where he confronted her and her boyfriend.
Brent Walden, 38, and his defense lawyer have maintained that he was under the influence of the sleep aid Ambien when he broke into his former wife's home Feb. 18, 2007. Defense lawyer Joseph Scheideler has argued that the drug caused Walden to experience a type of hypnotic trance when he went to his ex-wife's house. Walden has said he does not remember the incident.
An Adams County jury acquitted Walden of second-degree burglary and assault. Instead, jurors convicted him of felony trespassing and misdemeanor harassment.
District Judge Francis C. Wasserman rejected a motion by Scheideler, who had argued that the split verdicts were confusing and not consistent, to change the verdicts. The judge also didn't buy the argument that Ambien played a role in the confrontation.
"The facts that I heard at the trial simply did not support that, and the jury's verdict did not support that," Wasserman said of the so-called Ambien defense.
Walden chose not to make a statement to the judge.
His lawyer said that because he has a felony conviction for trespassing, he lost his job in the railroad industry. Walden also was forced to leave his position as Bennett School District board president because of the felony conviction. The district oversees about 1,100 students, and his children attend schools in the district.
In addition to the probation, the judge ordered Walden to undergo 36 weeks of domestic violence treatment, perform 50 hours of public service and submit to substance-abuse evaluation and treatment.
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