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Bonser violates probation, gets jail

(Feb. 9, 2017) A Feb. 1 re-enrollment into a drug treatment program was not enough to sway Judge Gerald Purnell into giving Nicholas Bonser, 20, of Berlin, a more lenient sentence than was delivered to his co-defendant, Jordan Denton, two weeks ago for violating his parole for the second time.
Denton and Bonser were granted probation before judgment and two years of supervised probation, along with certain conditions, in June 2015. Both have now returned twice to the court for violating those terms.
Two weeks ago Denton was ordered to serve five days in jail. A paperwork snafu delayed Bonser’s hearing until last Friday, when it was revealed he had returned to required treatment after being dismissed in October 2016 for noncompliance.
Bonser will serve five days in jail, and is scheduled to begin today.
“This started as a trivial event,” Purnell said of the spray-painting spree that caused about $11,000 in damages to cars and public property in January 2015. “Then you’re here over and over for noncompliance and testing positive … the court has to do something.”
Bonser said he had been going to the program regularly for four or five months until he stopped.
“I got caught up working and going to classes,” he said.
Purnell rejected the notion.
“One thing I tell defendants — excuses are for criminal court. You let it grow to this whole magnitude — you’re not compliant and you’re ignoring me. You have to do something. I have to do something,” he said.
Bonser said he was attending three classes at Delaware Technical Community College and working three days per week to pay off his share of the restitution. Bonser had paid off his debt, according to the court. Denton still owes about half of her share.
Asking the prosecution for a sentencing recommendation, Bonser’s probation agent, Michelle Peeples, recommended striking his probation before judgment — giving him a criminal record — and sentencing him to ten days in jail.
The tougher sentence, Peeples said, was reflective of the dismissal. Whereas Denton had tested positive for marijuana use and logged a “behavioral positive” by refusing to be tested, nothing was known about Bonser’s status because he’d left the program.
“I’m tired of this case. Tired of it,” Purnell said. “Just go and do it, because if you come back you’re doing 55 days.”
The time is the remainder of Bonser’s suspended sentence. Purnell said he would do the same to Denton, should she violate her probation again.
Purnell said once Bonser’s probation was successfully completed, he would entertain a motion from the defense attorney to reinstate the probation before judgment.
Bonser’s and Denton’s probation ends in June.