The Christian County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced today that on November 30, 2012, GERALD LOVETT BLUFORD, DOB: 12/27/1959, formerly of Nixa, Missouri was found guilty by a Christian County jury of the class C felony of Possession of a Controlled Substance with the Honorable Judge John Waters presiding.

On November 29, 2012, with the Honorable Judge John Waters presiding the jury trial of State of Missouri v. GERALD LOVETT BLUFORD commenced. 1st Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Donovan Dobbs represented the State. The facts presented to the jury included defendant was arrested for an unrelated matter by the Nixa Police Department on November 20, 2007 and a search of the defendant incident to that arrest was conducted. Inside Bluford’s pants pocket the officer found a packaged chunky white substance that lab analysis confirmed to be 4.39 grams of cocaine base. The jury trial concluded on Friday, November 30, 2012 and after deliberations the jury returned a guilty verdict to the single count of Possession of a Controlled Substance.

BLUFORD was arrested on November 20, 2007 for the stabbing death of Eric Eidson and was previously found guilty by a Christian County jury on December 17, 2009 of Voluntary Manslaughter and Armed Criminal Action in connection with that stabbing death. BLUFORD is currently serving the sentence given by the Honorable Judge Mark Orr to serve fifteen (15) years in the Missouri Department of Corrections for the Voluntary Manslaughter and to serve ten (10) years in the Missouri Department of Corrections for the Armed Criminal Action, those sentences to run consecutively.

BLUFORD is scheduled to be sentenced before the Honorable Judge John Waters on January 16, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. The range of punishment for the class C felony of Possession of a Controlled Substance is 1 day to 1 year incarceration in the Christian County jail, 2 to 7 years incarceration in the Missouri Department of Corrections and/or a fine up to $5,000.

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Ozark, MO – Christian County – Prosecuting Attorney Amy Fite announces that on Monday November 19, 2012 Anna Bunch joined the Prosecuting Attorney’s as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney. Ms. Bunch received her undergraduate degree from University of Missouri majoring in Journalism and Political Science. She received her Juris Doctorate from University of Missouri School of Law in May of 2007. Prior to joining the Christian County Prosecutor’s office, she worked for the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office where she prosecuted a variety of crimes including property crimes and crimes against persons, and most recently served in the Warrant Unit reviewing the majority of cases that were received into the office and served as a liaison with law enforcement officers. Ms. Bunch has also worked at the Missouri Attorney General’s office handling criminal appeals and motions for post-conviction relief.

Ms. Bunch in her current duties will carry a felony and misdemeanor caseload as well as appear in associate circuit court. She was hired to fill a currant vacancy in the office. Ms. Fite stated, “I am very excited to have Ms. Bunch come and join our office. I believe her experience and work ethic will help us to continue to provide efficient and effective prosecutions for the citizens of Christian County. ”

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Ozark, MO – Christian County Prosecuting Attorney, Amy J. Fite announced today that KARENA D. SMITH, dob: 09/11/1992 of Tunas, Missouri plead guilty to the class B felony of involuntary manslaughter in the 1^st degree and two class C felonies of assault in the second degree. The case was set to go to trial today in Christian County in front of Christian County Circuit Judge Mark Orr. The defendant announced her desire to plead guilty and did so on Friday November 2, 2012. The plea was without a plea agreement with the State other than the sentences for each count would run concurrent with each other.

KARENA D. SMITH plead guilty to driving while intoxicated while driving a car on May 31, 2010 and being criminally negligent when she failed to yield to oncoming traffic which caused another vehicle to hit hers. In the wreck, one of her passengers was killed and another physically injured. The driver of the other vehicle was also physically injured. SMITH had a blood alcohol content of .191. The legal limit is .08.

Formal sentencing is set for January 11, 2013. Prior to sentencing, a sentencing sentence report will be prepared by the Missouri Department of Corrections. The class B felony of involuntary manslaughter in the first degree carries a range of punishment of five (5) year to fifteen (15) years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.  Each class C felony of assault in the second degree carries a range of punishment of one (1) day to one (1) year in the Christian County Jail or one (1) year to seven (7) years in the Missouri Department of Corrections and/or a fine not to exceed five thousand (5,000) dollars.

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Ozark, MO – Christian County Prosecuting Attorney, Amy J. Fite announced today that JEFFERY DENTON, dob: 11/22/1967 of Conway, Missouri was found guilty by a jury of the class C felony of stealing and the class C felony of passing a bad check. The case went to trial beginning on October 22, 2012 and the jury returned a verdict on October 23, 2012. The jury also recommended that Denton be sentenced to six years in the Missouri Depart of Correction on each count. 1^st Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Donovan Dobbs represented the State.

JEFFERY DENTON was found guilty of giving a check on a closed account to purchase a home in Nixa on September 7, 2007. The account had been closed since 2005. Denton then remained in the home without paying anything until March of 2008. The owner of the home testified that Mr. Denton kept giving different deadlines as to when he would make payments but that each deadline passed without payment.

The defendant was charged on April 9, 2008.  The defendant failed to appear in September of 2009 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was arrested on the warrant in February of 2011.  Since 2011 the State prepared for trial on several occasions; however, the case was unable to be tried due to more serious cases taking precedent on the limited jury trial docket.

Formal sentencing is set for January 4, 2013. Prior to sentencing, a sentencing sentence report will be prepared by the Missouri Department of Corrections. The class C felony of stealing and passing a bad check carries a range of punishment of one (1) day to one (1) year in the Christian County Jail or one (1) year to seven (7) years in the Missouri Department of Corrections and/or a fine not to exceed five thousand (5,000) dollars.

OZARK, MO – The Christian County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced today that on September 7, 2012 James J. France; dob: 9/3/1973 formerly of Strafford, Missouri was sentenced by the Honorable Judge Mark Orr to fifteen (15) years in the Department of Corrections. On May 23, 2012, in front of the Honorable Judge Orr, a bench trial was started. Following the victim testifying, the defendant, James J. France, opted instead to enter a plea of guilty to one count of Statutory Sodomy in the First Degree of a child less than 12 for events occurring between June 21, 2003 and June 20, 2006 pursuant to a plea agreement with the State to cap any sentence in the Missouri Department of Corrections at fifteen (15) years. The range of punishment for Statutory Sodomy in the First Degree of a child less than 12 is life imprisonment or a term of years not less than ten years. Currently, for this type of charge the Department of Corrections calculates a life sentence as 30 years. This is a charge that requires a defendant serve 85% of the sentence before being eligible for parole. This charge also includes lifetime registration as sex offender and lifetime GPS monitoring.
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