BULLHEAD CITY – An April 16 sentencing hearing has been scheduled for an elderly Bullhead City man who expressed confusion during a recent change of plea hearing in Kingman. William Forshey, 82, reluctantly pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for attacking a health care worker while he was being treated last October at a medical facility in the 2700 block of Silvercreek Road.
“I didn’t do a thing,” Forshey said during one portion of the hearing. “I have a problem thinking clearly since all this has happened.”
Prosecutor Karolina Czaplinska said Forshey became violent when he was a patient in the Emergency Room at Western Arizona Regional Medical Center.
“The defendant placed both hands around a health care worker’s throat and repeatedly threatened to kill him,” Czaplinska said.
Forshey offered a different version of events.
“I said please don’t pull my shoes off and all heck broke loose,” Forshey said. “I didn’t touch nobody.”
Mohave County Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle said he couldn’t accept Forshey’s guilty plea, given his expression of innocence. Attorneys changed the structure of the deal whereby Forshey pleaded guilty pursuant to Alford.
An “Alford plea” is one in which the defendant makes no admissions, but concedes the state would be able to achieve conviction at trial. This allows a defendant to enter the agreement because of benefit afforded under terms, as opposed to harsher punishment consequences if convicted at trial.
Terms of Forshey’s deal eliminate further jail time and requires imposition of probation for up to three years. The assault offense would be designated a misdemeanor should Forshey successfully complete probation.
- Dave Hawkins
