A 26-year-old Hutchinson man entered “not guilty” pleas in two cases against him may be still trying to reach a plea deal with the state. During a pretrial hearing Friday Christopher Ford’s attorney indicated that they are still wanting to work out a plea deal with the state.
Ford was not in court because of serving a 25-month sentence after his probation in other cases was revoked. Judge Tim Chambers went ahead and set a motion deadline of August 30, but also set that date for a status hearing, or possible date for Ford to enter a plea.
He was arrested back in February for being in possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, but was also at a home where he had been ordered not to go to, resulting in a charge of criminal trespass. This occurring in the 500 block of East 9th.
He was also arrested on two warrants for two cases going back to January. One charges him with interference with law enforcement which was dropped by the state. The other includes a charge of criminal possession of firearm and leaving the scene of an accident on January 15.
The criminal possession of firearm charge is because it’s illegal for him to have a weapon because of previous felony convictions. He was apparently driving on east 4th, and lost control and rolled the vehicle he was driving. He was not injured, but his passenger Joshua Rund was suffering a broken neck according to testimony in previous court hearings. He was apparently concerned over the location of the gun, and when it couldn’t be located, he ran away from the accident.
He has a previous conviction for theft from 1994, but was on corrections for possession of drugs from 2009, and a burglary case from 2010.