Stalking charges dismissed against Boise County commissioner after June trial
The Boise County Commission Chairman facing misdemeanor stalking charges was acquitted of all charges last week by an Elmore County judge, according to court records.
Magistrate Judge David Epis dismissed two counts of stalking in late June in a case involving Alan Darrel Ward, 62. In July 2019, Ward was taken into custody and booked into the Ada County jail on the two misdemeanor charges.
Michael Bartlett, Ward’s defense counsel, told The Statesman on Monday that a bench trial was held last month in Boise County. Bartlett hoped to try the case in front of a jury, but due to the coronavirus outbreak, the decision was made to go forward with a bench trial. This means the case is brought forward in its entirety, and a judge decides the outcome of a case.
Epis, a judge in Elmore County, presided over the case to eliminate any conflicts of interest. After the case was presented, Epis ruled there was not enough evidence to support the charges and dismissed both counts.
Epis ruled that prosecutors did not meet the burden of proof to warrant the charges, saying the state had not proved “voluntary and malicious conduct” needed for a conviction, according to Bartlett.
A woman accused Ward — who is also a member of the Garden Valley School District’s board of directors — of “repeated acts of non-consensual contact by arriving at and entering the school property parking lot,” twice in April 2019, according to the criminal complaint filed in Boise County court by prosecutors with the Idaho Attorney General’s Office.
“We were pleased by the judge’s decision,” Bartlett said. “The ruling supports our contention that Alan was innocent.”
Ward remains in his positions on the Boise County Board of Commissioners and the Garden Valley School District. He was elected to the school board in 2017, and his term will end in December 2021, according to the district’s website.
