Ward, Jones ordered to post $50K bond

MONTROSE — John Ward and Valerie Jones will have to post a $50,000 cost bond for proceedings in their lawsuit against the Daily Press and other defendants, according to a ruling handed down last Friday.

The Daily Press covered Ward’s criminal case, which included allegations of exploitation of children, in 2003. Ward eventually pleaded no contest to two felony counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and a misdemeanor charge of harassment; other charges were dropped and he was sentenced in 2004 to 10 years’ probation.

Ward and Jones are claiming defamation, interference and conspiracy in their suit and are also suing on behalf of their dance studio business. Bennett Hodgins, a former student at the school, is suing for malicious prosecution, after sex charges against him were dismissed.

Because Ward and Jones reside in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico, Daily Press attorneys argued a cost bond should be imposed and sought $90,000. According to Judge Dennis Freidrich’s Friday ruling, Ward and Jones claimed to be residents of both Colorado and Mexico.

“The court finds that the plaintiffs are not residents of Colorado and statute does require a bond,” Friedrich wrote, ordering them to post one. “The court denies the plaintiff’s request for an opportunity to file an indigency status. Failure of the plaintiffs to comply with this order within 20 days of today’s date may result in the court dismissing said plaintiffs.”

The ruling said the court had no discretion in the matter because of state law.

The document also referenced a motion filed in Ward’s criminal matter Dec. 12, seeking a change in probation conditions.

The motion asked Friedrich to change Ward’s probation from supervised to unsupervised, so he could avoid paying a monthly supervision fee as required by the terms of his sentence.

“Mr. Ward is now two years into probation supervision, but for the last 18 of them, he has been in Mexico full-time,” attorney Colleen Scissors wrote in the motion. Scissors does not represent Ward in his civil suit.

“Paying a supervision fee is a cost that seems both unreasonable and unnecessary under the circumstances.”

She also objected to the requirement that Ward file a monthly status report, saying it also seemed unnecessary. In the motion, she said Ward would agree to immediately notify probation of any address changes or new arrests.

Deputy District Attorney Wiley Christopher said in his Dec. 19 response however that such guarantee of compliance was insufficient. He said it was his position that Ward took little responsibility for the matter at hand and he criticized Ward’s harsh descriptions of previous prosecutors.

“His use of intemperate language clearly reveals that he feels himself to be the true victim,” Christopher wrote, citing examples in which Ward allegedly described former prosecutors as “a tragically disturbed Gorgon with a psychotic need for power and a pip squeak who is trying to prove he has more value than as a diminutive gun-toting hat rack...a vindictive, drunken dwarf and an aged promiscuous witch.”

Christopher, who did not prosecute the original case, said that though such language might well show enhanced literacy on Ward’s part, it was not indicative of taking responsibility.

“...in courageous disregard of the defendant’s ability with adjective and metaphor (I) contend that it is not unreasonable to continue supervised probation, given that the sole mechanism for compliance suggested by the defendant is that he self-report changes of address and new arrests,” Christopher wrote.

“Where there is no acceptance of responsibility, any reliance upon voluntary compliance is based more upon hope than upon realism,” he concluded.

There was no indication when the motion would be ruled on.