Kelli Duncan/kduncan@vaildaily.com
The prosecution prevailed in the trial of Curtis Dean Shewfelt on Thursday evening despite a missing witness and attempts by the defense to block a key piece of evidence in its case to prove Shewfelt brought heroin into Eagle County for distribution in summer 2017.
After four years of dismissals, an appeal and a mistrial, the jury returned a verdict finding Shewfelt guilty on both counts charged conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute, both class 3 drug felonies.
In the third and final day of the trial, the jury finally got to hear more about a series of text messages between Shewfelt and a man purported to be Samuel Fightlin.
Kelli Duncan/kduncan@vaildaily.com
In the second day of the trial of Curtis Shewfelt, a Craig man accused of transporting drugs to an alleged Eagle County dealer, the defense worked to block the prosecution from utilizing a central element of their case: a series of text messages between Shewfelt and the dealer.
Shewfelt currently faces charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute, both class 3 drug felonies, in a long and bumpy case that all began July 13, 2017.
In the early morning hours of July 13, Shewfelt rode in the passenger seat of his black Chevy pickup truck as his friend, Holiday Sanchez, was tailed by police for allegedly swerving on Interstate 70 near Vail. Sanchez did not pull over, but rather sped up and tried to evade police before crashing in the Avon Road roundabout in Avon, according to police reports and testimony given Tuesday.
Kelli Duncan/kduncan@vaildaily.com
The trial of a Craig man accused of trafficking drugs in Eagle County began Tuesday after more than four years of dismissals, an appeal, and a mistrial.
In the first day of the trial of Curtis Dean Shewfelt, the prosecution characterized Shewfelt as a reckless drug dealer who was found in a car containing heroin in 2017 and later arrested on evidence that he was on his way to deliver to another dealer in Gypsum.
Shewfelt and his friend Holiday Sanchez were delivering heroin “across the Front Range” from Loveland to Gypsum, arriving in Vail in the early morning hours of July 13, 2017, lead prosecuting attorney Johnny Lombardi said in his opening remarks.
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