BULLHEAD CITY — A plea agreement resolving a Bullhead City road rage criminal case blew up as it was being entered in Mohave County Superior Court. The defendant, Michael Eisen, 48, essentially talked himself out of the deal that spared him from a possible prison sentence.
Eisen had been charged with two counts of aggravated assault stemming from an April 29 confrontation resulting in the crash of a motorcycle and the injury of the woman who was operating it.
Bullhead City police spokeswoman Emily Fromelt said Eisen was driving his Infinity Qx60 westbound on Hancock road and was behind the motorcycle when he pulled up next to it and pointed a gun at its female operator. Fromelt said Eisen swerved toward the side of the motorcycle which caused its 47-year-old operator to crash.
The woman was transported to a local hospital for treatment of non-lie-threatening injuries.
The plea deal being entered before Judge Derek Carlisle on Thursday, May 22 would have convicted Eisen of one count of aggravated assault and a disorderly conduct involving a weapon charge. The no prison guaranteed deal exposed him to probation and up to a year in the county jail.
Prosecutor James Schoppmann told the Court that Eisen told the woman “that’s what you get (expletive),” as he drove from the scene before he later called police to report that the motorcycle operator tried to hit his vehicle.
When asked by the Court, Eisen responded that he did not agree with the factual basis Schoppmann supplied in support of the plea deal. He told Judge Carlisle that the alleged victim instigated the confrontation by slowing down to four miles an hour in front of him and threatened him and his son, a passenger in the Infinity.
“I’m going to wreck your pretty little car and kill your son and you,” Eisen claimed she said. He said that threat is why he brandished his weapon.
Finding it inconsistent to plead guilty while disputing facts of the case, Judge Carlisle ruled the plea agreement could not be entered. Attorneys can go back to the drawing board and craft a new deal or prepare for trial.
Judge Carlisle scheduled a June 19 pre-trial conference.
