Jan 01, 2009 - 04:06:05 CST
Almost a year to the day of his arrest, a Bismarck man was sentenced to one year in prison for menacing and domestic simple assault.Shannon Dale Neva, 37, originally was charged with terrorizing, but a jury found him guilty of the lesser-included offense of menacing during a trial in October.
South Central District Judge David Reich sentenced Neva to one year in prison on each of the two Class Amisdemeanors, with the sentences to run concurrent to each other after he serves a separate sentence for probation revocation in a different case.
Neva was accused of assaulting his girlfriend and threatening the girlfriend's son on Jan. 1, 2008. He was in jail in lieu of $50,000 cash bond until Jan. 31, 2008, when his probation was revoked in a past case and he was sent to prison.
Kent Morrow, Neva's appointed defense attorney, recommended Neva receive one year with all but time served suspended. He said Neva was supposed to get one year with credit for 253 days served on each of four counts in the probation revocation, but instead the prison has him down as serving four one-year sentences with credit for 253 days. The probation revocation largely was due to the new charges, Morrow said.
"He's really spent the last year in custody on this charge,"Morrow said.
Burleigh County Assistant State's Attorney Pam Nesvig recommended Neva receive the maximum sentence of one year on each count, with the sentences to run consecutive to each other and his other sentence. She said he has not taken responsibility for his actions and has blamed the victim.
"He's trying to minimize things,"she said.
Neva asked for a sentence of credit for time served. He said he feels his probation revocation sentence had been mixed up and he's been treated more harshly than other people convicted of similar crimes.
Reich ordered Neva to complete domestic violence offender treatment while in prison and recommended he be placed at the Tompkins Rehabilitation and Corrections Unit in Jamestown for treatment.
(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)
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