Prosecution delays continue for two involved in 2024 downtown assault
Two people charged in connection with a September 2024 downtown alley assault that left a man with a brain injury appeared in court this week.
Jesse Edwards Jr. and Ethanel Pherigo both appeared in court as their cases have been plagued with delays.
Edwards was 14 at the time of the assault.
He was initially charged with felony aggravated assault in juvenile court, but Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki’s office decided to upgrade the charge to deliberate attempted homicide in adult district court.
Pherigo sentencing pushed to June for 2024 downtown assault
Judge John Parker is still deciding whether Edwards will be tried in adult court or sent down to youth court.
Another transfer hearing was scheduled for April 28 at 1 p.m., but Edwards’ attorney was not present.
Parker said the hearing couldn’t proceed without defense counsel in a case that could lead to incarceration.
Preston Rammell, a deputy county attorney prosecuting the case, said it was the fourth setting of a transfer hearing and testimony had already been given previously.
Family members of Edwards and the victim, Jake Kraus, were in the courtroom.
Parker apologized to the families and friends on both sides. He said the court doesn’t control attorneys, but recognized it was “deeply unsettling” to have further delays.
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From the bench, Parker set a status hearing in the case for 1 p.m. May 12.
Fifteen minutes after the hearing’s scheduled time, Edwards’ attorney, Myshell Lyday, signed on to Zoom.
Parker asked her what happened and she responded that she had emailed the court asking the hearing be moved to May 12 and was told that was fine.
From the bench, Parker searched his email and said he found one, but his order set the hearing for April 28 and no one filed a motion to reschedule.
Parker said there had just been 16-18 people in the courtroom for the hearing who clearly hadn’t been informed that the hearing wasn’t happening.
“It’s on counsel to get me motions and orders if you want me to move dates for the convenience of your witnesses,” Parker said, adding that he was relying on the attorneys to update the families. “This has been probably pretty devastating for everyone on both sides of the case.”
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Pherigo appeared for a status hearing before Parker on April 29.
Proceedings in his case have also moved slowly due to multiple issues with defense counsel.
Parker said he wanted to set a firm date for sentencing since delays were disruptive for the families, as it’s “so jarring for them to come here and have the matter scuttled for a number of reasons.”
Levi Roadman, appearing by Zoom, said he’d been assigned the week prior as Pherigo’s defense attorney and had access to discovery materials. He requested about 45 days to review the case and draft a sentencing memo.
Parker said he wanted defense counsel in to appear in person in court for sentencing and he’d block out a full day for the hearing “so everyone’s voice can be heard and bring some finality to it.”
Pherigo signed an agreement last summer to plead guilty to robbery for his role in the assault.
Pherigo sentencing delayed again in 2024 downtown assault [2025]
In exchange for the state dropping the aggravated assault charge, the case moved to sentencing and the prosecution is recommending 40 years in the Montana State Prison.
Pherigo was scheduled to be sentenced last fall, but defense attorney problems caused a delay.
Shaun DeBerry was sentenced Dec. 18 to 40 years with the Montana Department of Corrections, with none suspended, a 20-year parole restriction and $709,000 in restitution for his role in the assault.
He was credited for 466 days of time served in the county jail.
Deberry was 19 at the time of the assault and was initially charged with a felony count of aggravated assault, which prosecutors upgraded to accountability for attempted deliberate homicide.
In September, he signed a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to an amended felony charge of accountability for robbery.
In February, he appealed his sentence to the Montana Supreme Court. The appeal is pending.
Pherigo sentencing delayed again in 2024 downtown assault [2025]
Edwards was initially charged with felony aggravated assault in juvenile court since he was 14 at the time, but Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki’s office decided to upgrade the charge to deliberate attempted homicide in adult district court.
Racki told The Electric last year that his office made that decision based on the video footage of the assault, in which Edwards is seen stomping on the victim’s head while he’s lying motionless on the ground.
Typically, when juveniles are charged with serious crimes, such as in Edwards’ case, the defense requests a hearing in district court during which the judge will determine whether the individual should be tried as an adult in district court, or if the case should be sent back down to juvenile court.
There are several factors the judge will consider during that hearing to determine how the case should be tried, Racki said.
During a January transfer hearing, Preston Rammell, the deputy county attorney prosecuting the case, said that an independent risk assessment had been completed for Edwards and the state was not contesting the evaluation’s findings, but due to the nature of the offense, the prosecution was compelled to argue that the case should remain in district court and Edwards tried as an adult.
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When Edwards was charged in 2024, the victim wasn’t expected to live and while he survived, he’s facing significant lifelong challenges.
Rammell said the prosecution is “very concerned about public safety from this youth,” and the indiscriminate violence of the attack on someone Edwards didn’t know.
Myshell Lyday, Edwards’ defense attorney, said she didn’t disagree with the seriousness of the offense and that Edwards “feels bad about it.”
She said that Edwards had done well in the JDC for the last year and according to the evaluation, he’d been basically taking care of himself since the age of 12, couch surfing, trying to keep himself safe, developed anxiety and depression and likely has some post-traumatic stress that needs to be addressed.
Lyday said the evaluation found Edwards to be in low range for recidivism and the group he was with at the time of the September 2024 assault was “clearly not a good peer group.”
She said she wasn’t trying to excuse his behavior, which warranted a serious response, but at his age, Edwards shouldn’t be placed in the adult court system, facing prison with adult offenders.
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She said she wasn’t minimizing the harm caused by his actions, but even a kid charged with attempted deliberate homicide “is still a kid,” and she doesn’t believe he’ll be a repeat offender.
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In January, Parker said that the evaluation had only been filed the previous day and wanted to spend more time reviewing it and relevant case law, but wanted to signal to everyone that the case would most likely remain in adult court “because of the magnitude” of the victim’s injuries.
Lyday said the defense disagreed and asked if it would be helpful to have testimony from the doctor who completed the evaluation.
Parker said both parties had stipulated to the accuracy of the evaluation but if she wanted to motion the court to continue the transfer hearing and reopen the evidentiary phase, he’d allow it and a hearing could be scheduled in a few weeks.
The April 28 hearing was scheduled as the request of the defense to hear from the evaluator, according to the County Attorney’s office.
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Deberry’s charging documents provide more details about the assault that occurred around 10 p.m. in the alley behind City Bar at 709 Central Ave. on Sept. 8.
Officers responded around 10 p.m. to the scene where a bar employee said there had been a group of people fighting who then walked down the alley. Officers went down the alley eastbound, the direction the suspects had headed, and found a male lying unconscious in a pool of blood, according to court documents.
Officers checked the area for those matching the descriptions of those involved, as given by witnesses, and located the property manager for apartments in the alley who had video footage of the incident.
Officers also spoke to the manager of the Lifestyle Real Estate/Haute Hive building at 721 Central Ave. who provided video footage from their cameras to officers, who reviewed the footage and identified one of those involved as Pherigo.
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Officers had Pherigo’s address in their system and responded to his residence in the 600 block of 8th Street North, where he was located. Pherigo initially told officers he didn’t know about the incident but later said he acted in self-defense, according to court documents.
According to investigators, the victim had left a concert at The Newberry and was walking downtown when he ran into the group of teenagers.
In the surveillance video, the victim, identified as J.K,, 37, was walking eastbound down the alley with a group of young adults behind him.
In the video, Deberry hits the victim in the head with a can of Sprite, according to court documents.
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The victim walks away, but is pursued by Deberry and the other five suspects.
In the video, the group is seen throwing the victim to the ground with Deberry stomping on him while he’s on the ground, according to court documents. Deberry then walks away and two other males continue assaulting the victim, stomping on his head.
Pherigo is seen stomping on the victim’s head while he’s face down on the ground, then rummaging through the victim’s pockets while another male, later identified as Jesse Edwards, continues to stomp on the victim’s head, according to court documents, and Pherigo is seen in the video taking items from the victim.
Officers spoke to Pherigo’s family members and were able to identify others in the video, specifically Deberry and Edwards.
Pherigo told police that he and Deberry were involved and that Deberry had lured the victim into the alley, according to court documents.
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After the assault, Deberry went to a residence at 1101 3rd Ave. S. where the resident, Mona Ekblad told officers that Deberry and Edwards had arrived at her residence shortly after the assault. She told officers that Edwards had left around 11:05 p.m. and Deberry had stayed the night until contacted by law enforcement.
In speaking with detectives, Deberry admitted to the acts seen in the video and said the victim had a knife, according to court documents.
Deberry was on probation for a felony aggravated animal cruelty sentence from July. In that case, he hit his ex-girlfriend’s friend’s four-month-old chihuahua with a pipe while the girls were walking, killing the dog, on the belief that his ex-girlfriend had broken a window, according to court documents.
In that case, he was also located at Ekblad’s residence, according to court documents.
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In the Sept. 8 assault investigation, officers interviewed P.R., a juvenile who was in the alley during the altercation, who told officers that he and five others were walking downtown, including Pherigo, Deberry and Edwards.
P.R. said that the victim had approached them asking for methamphetamine and P.R. said no, so the victim had walked down the alley away from the group.
P.R. told detectives that as the victim walked away, Deberry called him back and hit him in the head with the soda can.
P.R. told detectives that he then rode his bike away from the group, not wanting to be involved in the altercation.
