Accused Yokel Park mugger bound for trial

By GIL BRADY, staff ink-stained wretch
Filed at 3:45pm
Updated 11:23pm
Updated 8/13, 12:13am

JACKSON, Wyo. (CT) – A Louisiana man accused of flashing a gun to mug a 17-year-old Pinedale youth during a reported drug deal gone bad last Friday near Mike Yokel Park is headed for trial.

Judge Timothy Day bound over for trial Thursday Joshua James White, 26, of Alexandria, La., during a probable cause hearing in Jackson's 9th Circuit Court. The Louisiana native is scheduled to appear next before 9th Judicial District Judge Nancy Guthrie.

After a bail reduction appeal by public defender Greg Blenkinsop, who argued that White's brother residing here made White an unlikely flight risk, Day reduced White’s bail from $25,000 to $10,000. White faces one count of aggravated robbery, a felony, which carries a sentence of between 5 and 25 years in jail and a $10,000 fine, for reportedly using a gun to rob the teen of $300 after the two agreed to a 1-oz marijuana buy.

Under Wyoming statute, aggravated robbery must include the element of intentionally putting another “in fear of immediate bodily injury.” Blenkinsop's defense challenged the evidence alleging that White threatened immediate physical harm to the teen rather than testimony about White flashing a .38 Smith & Wesson, or the robbery that White stands accused of committing. According to charging documents and court testimony Thursday, by Jackson police Det. Russ Ruschill, the victim reported that he was “afraid” during the alleged crime.

Ruschill testified that, after White and the teen agreed to the drug deal and drove away from town in White's sedan, White stopped near Mike Yokel Park and led the teen to the trunk of his car. Ruschill said White then opened the trunk, and, after putting the gun in plain view, said to the victim: "That's all you're going to get."

Court testimony Thursday suggests that the gun once belonged to White's grandfather.

Blenkinsop argued that since the .38 pistol recovered by police was unloaded, and no bullets were found at the crime scene or in White’s car, plus other “inconsistencies” in the victim’s statements to police, including whether the victim was in actual immediate fear of bodily injury, the charge of aggravated robbery against White should be dismissed and bail reduced.

Teton County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Brian Hultman argued that at the time White first flashed the gun, he did not know if the victim also had a gun, which, Hultman argued, could have provoked shots being fired in a public setting.

White and the Pinedale youth reportedly met on the Jackson Town Square around 5pm last Friday.

Day did not dismiss the charge of aggravated robbery, but said White is to be presumed innocent until he either pleads guilty or is convicted of a crime. Day instructed White, should he post bail, not to contact the victim or leave Teton County without notifying the court.

No trial date has yet been set.

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