A Price resident will go to trial in late May following an alleged aggravated assault that occurred in March. James William Pendleton Jr., 39,was booked into the Carbon County Jail on April 4 after officers served a search warrant that resulted in his arrest.
Pendleton appeared before Judge Douglas Thomas in Seventh District Court on Monday. Pendleton was in court for cases that were filed in 2009, 2010 and two cases from 2011 and 2014. According to Judge Thomas, Pendleton was on bail when the alleged aggravated assault took place.
Pendleton requested a decrease in bail during the court appearance. Judge Thomas explained that because of the seriousness of the new charge, bail would stay set where it currently is.
Pendleton will go to trial on May 28 for six cases filed against him, the most recent including an aggravated assult charge, possession or use of a controlled substance charge, unlawful possession/purcharse/transaction of a dangerous weapon charge and a charge for use or possession of drug paraphernalia.
On March 29, a male Price resident presented himself at the Castleview Hospital Emergency Room. He had been savagely beaten and had to be air transported to a northern Utah hospital for treatment. The victim was initially hesitant to provide information to police. As the severity of his injuries became apparent, friends and family encouraged him to provide helpful information to the investigation. The man allegedly had stopped at the house of the suspect, Pendleton, who reportedly had been a neighborhood childhood friend. Pendleton allegedly, in an unprovoked manner, assaulted the man with a mid-sized wooden baseball bat.
Investigative information resulted in Price City Police Detective Chris Pugliese obtaining a search warrant for Pendleton and his residence in Price. Pendleton was stopped in a vehicle near his house while officers were enroute to serve the search warrant. Allegedly, nearly 10 grams of methamphetamine and paraphernalia were located in the vehicle.
Pendleton was escorted to his residence for service of the search warrant. Several other items of paraphernalia, the bat allegedly used in the assault and an airsoft pistol that looks like a semi-automatic handgun were also seized.
Pendleton has an extensive Utah criminal history involving, drug, theft and violence related charges.