KINGMAN, Ariz. – Defense attorney Daisy Mazoff offered a long oratory during an Aug. 18 sentencing hearing for a Lake Havasu City man brandished a knife during a confrontation with a group of teenagers on April 16.
Mazoff told the court that eight to 10 kids on e-bikes surrounded the defendant, Brian Thonnard, 55, and taunted and threatened him in the 2300 block of Inverness Drive.
“My client told them he did not want to fight them. He tried to de-escalate this,’’ Mazoff said. “My client genuinely felt threatened.”
Mazoff told Mohave County Superior Court Judge Megan McCoy that the teenagers followed Thonnard as he drove to his nearby home where the confrontation continued. There’s no dispute that Thonnard brandished a pocketknife, resulting in his conviction for disorderly conduct involving a weapon.
Judge McCoy told Thonnard that his conduct was inappropriate, despite being swarmed by the youthful e-bikers.
“These teenagers are not your teenagers, and you are not allowed to yell at them … even if these teenagers are running amok.” At the same time, McCoy noted that the incident appeared to be isolated and aberrant behavior by the defendant.
Judge McCoy placed Thonnard on probation for three years and imposed no further jail time than the two days he already spent in custody. She also ordered Thonnard to perform 120 hours of community work service.
Mazoff told the court that Thonnard’s father has passed and that he is the in-home, 24/7 caregiver for his 79-year-old mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s. She noted his stress and requested that Thonnard, while on probation, still be allowed to consume marijuana.
“It stops the cacophony in his brain,” Mazoff said. “Without marijuana he gets about four hours of sleep. With marijuana he gets six hours of sleep.”
McCoy cautiously granted Thonnard’s marijuana request.
“Please be responsible in your use,” she said. “Make sure you get six hours of sleep at night.”
