UPDATE — Judge Iuppa ordered Paige, 21, to stand trial on charges of murder and attempted murder. Paige pleaded not guilty to all counts. His trial is scheduled for Oct. 30.

A shooting that killed two men and wounded two others outside a Colorado Springs apartment complex in January may have stemmed from a quarrel over a woman, police testified Wednesday at a preliminary hearing.

Alonzo Paige, 21

Alonzo Paige, 21, is charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 24 shooting deaths of Marquise Bean, 20, and Andrew Encalade, 21, outside the Timberlane Apartments, 3985 E. Bijou St.

Paige — who goes by his nickname, BabyWiz — is also charged with the attempted murder of Jareem Vanterpool and Adam Encalade, who survived their wounds. Police say Adam Encalade – the brother of the slaying victim – will likely be confined to a wheelchair.

Fourth Judicial District Judge Barney Iuppa is expected to rule at the conclusion of Wednesday’s hearing whether evidence is strong enough to order Paige to trial. Paige faces the possibility of life in prison without parole.

Police testified the men were at a small gathering at a friend’s apartment at the Timberlane Apartments when Paige made a pass at Vanterpool’s girlfriend, leading to a heated argument inside.

That dispute fizzled, but Vanterpool and one of Paige’s friends got into a quarrel later in the evening and ultimately went outside, apparently to fight.

Witnesses said they heard shouting before Paige raised a pistol and fired off approximately 10 rounds – taking time to aim at each of the four men, who were apparently unarmed.

Defense attorney Phil Dubois, citing possible gang ties, said the shooting was in self-defense.

Paige and another man fled after the shooting. The fugitive turned himself over to police in March, ending a more than monthlong search.

Wednesday’s hearing stoked emotions among the victims’ relatives, who wept and in some cases got up and left as prosecutors displayed pictures of the crime scene – a nightmarish tableau of bodies, blood and spent pistol rounds.

Testimony will resume at 1:30 p.m.

A former Ellicott school board member appears headed for a June 25 trial on sex offenses related to two teenage boys – unless attorneys can reach an agreement on terms of a possible plea deal.

Photo supplied by Colorado Springs police.

At a brief court hearing Thursday, an attorney for Stefanie Dickinson, 38, said a court mediator has agreed to oversee continuing plea negotiations.

Fourth Judicial District Judge Gregory Werner noted that plea deals have been debated since Dickinson’s back-to-back arrests in the fall of 2010 and warned that he won’t grant further delays unless an agreement is reached.

“If you don’t get it mediated between now and then, we’re going to trial,” Werner said. Dickinson did not speak at the hearing. Also in attendance was her husband, Chad, who has been at her side at several earlier court appearances.

Court records show Dickinson is charged with sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust, a felony that carries the potential of life in prison, and internet luring of a child. Authorities say she lured a 17-year-old boy into a sexual relationship and tried to seduce a 14-year-old friend of her son’s.

The older boy told El Paso County sheriff’s deputies that Dickinson used to be his babysitter, authorities said.

Later, as the boy got older, he began watching Dickinson’s two children, and sometimes stayed the night at her home.

The pair had sex at least five times during the summer of 2008, when he was a high school senior, investigators said.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said if found text messages from Dickinson on the 14-year-old boy’s cell phone offering to have sex with him.

At the time of her arrest, Dickinson was the treasurer for the Ellicott schools board and had been fighting a recall effort over concerns about poor fiscal oversight, teacher retention rates and less than stellar state test scores.

She resigned before the election.

In January, Dickinson, who is free on bond, was granted permission by Judge Werner to move to Texas while awaiting trial. Her attorney told the court Dickinson was unable to find work in the Pikes Peak Region.

The numbers are in.

Joshua D. Carrier, 31

Three weeks after Joshua Carrier’s sex-assault trial sputtered to a halt in Colorado Springs, verdict forms have been made available, and they raise more questions yet about the jury’s thinking.

We already knew that Carrier was convicted of 21 counts of sexual exploitation of children – for child pornography offenses, perhaps the least serious of the counts against him – and acquitted on a mix of 36 other counts.

What we didn’t know, until now, is the make-up of the acquittals.

Turns out that one-third of the acquittals were for touching-related offenses, which formed the core of the case against Carrier.

According to the verdict forms, Carrier was acquitted of four counts of sexual assault on a child; nine counts of unlawful sexual contact; seven counts of child enticement; and 14 counts of sexual exploitation of children (a child pornography charge.) As previously reported, the jury failed to reach an accord on 150 counts.

What’s weird here is that while the jury acquitted on some counts related to some children, they stopped short of issuing blanket acquittals on any one child.

How they settled on that outcome is a mystery.

While acquittals for fondling might be encouraging to the defense, remember that jury forewoman Julia told The Gazette there would have been more guilty findings had it not been for one or two hold-outs – one of whom, she said, “wouldn’t believe anything.”

Let’s see if we arrive at more clarity when Carrier is  retried in September on all unresolved counts.

Despite the mixed acquittals, Carrier will face touching-related charges applying to all 22 children who previously testified.The not-guilty verdicts will stand, however.

–Lance Benzel

All right, ladies and gentleman,

By popular demand, and because I couldn’t get anyone else to do it first, I’ve broken down all counts against Joshua Carrier., the former Colorado Springs police officer accused of molesting 22 children at Horace Mann Middle School.

Joshua D. Carrier, 31

The final tally: 207 counts. All are felonies. The sex assault counts carry the potential for life sentences.

Here goes:

Sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust (F3) — 44

Sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust-pattern of abuse (F3) — 13

Sexual assault on a child (F4) — 44

Sexual assault on a child-pattern of abuse (F3) — 12

Unlawful sexual contact (F4) — 27

Enticement of a child (F4) — 31

Sexual exploitation* — 35

Sexual assault (F4) — 1

*Note: Of the 35 exploitation counts, six are Class 3 felonies, seven are Class 4 felonies and 22 are Class 6 felonies.

You’ll have to excuse my excitement about all this.  The charging documents were modified so heavily, with some charges dropped and others added, even prosecutors didn’t know the exact tally. Part of the reason is that the D.A.’s software — which actually comes from the state — is pretty clunky and doesn’t re-sequence charges properly.

So what you see here is my hand-tally, Lord help you.

Jurors at the Joshua Carrier trial on Monday heard allegations related to five more children, including one

Joshua Dwayne Carrier, 31

who backed off a claim that Carrier inserted a finger in his rectum during a medical check.

Three boys took the stand, and jurors watched videotaped interviews of two other alleged victims. The brisk pace means the prosecution is on pace to finish this week — as early as Wednesday.

One of the videos played Monday documented the May 2011 interview of a 14-year-old boy who suffers from a developmental disorder and who told police that Carrier used a finger to probe his rear end.

The boy said he was touched in the school fitness room. He became nauseated at school and threw up, and said Carrier told him to strip so that he could rule out the possibility that he had an inflamed appendix, the boy alleged.

Asked on tape why he thought Carrier inserted his finger, the boy answered that he felt the then-officer’s fingernail.

That allegation was notably absent from the boy’s testimony on Friday. While repeating many of the same allegations, he said he didn’t remember saying his anus was penetrated.

A second video was of a former student wrestler who defended Carrier’s checks as “legitimate” and said on the stand that he didn’t feel like a victim, despite having his genitals handled by Carrier. That led to another showdown in the courtroom in which defense attorney Josh Tolini aggressively questioned a police interviewer and suggested that she tried to influence the boy’s testimony.

Monday afternoon included testimony from two more boys – both testifying that Carrier touched their genitals while strip-searching them for drugs.

The checks started after the school received information that three boys had smoked marijuana over the weekend.

One boy testified that Carrier’s searched him in the presence of a school security guard and Ken Potman, an assistant principal at Mann Middle School. Assistant Principal Peggy Layh apparently knew of the searches in advance, the boys testified.

Strip-searches by police are rare in Colorado Springs and cannot be performed without a police commander’s written approval, said Colorado Springs police Sgt. David Edmondson, who helps coordinate police training.

Authorities say Carrier had no authorization to be doing strip searches.

Edmondson also testified that police policy requires that the person being strip-searched already be under arrest.

Carrier, 31, is accused of sexually assaulting 22 children at Horace Mann Middle School, where he worked as a volunteer during the 2010-2011 school year. Twenty-one have testified thus far – and prosecutors were expecting to question the 22nd boy late Monday afternoon.

The defense said it will present its side of the story for two or three days before closing arguments are given and the jury begins deliberations.

The trial officially started March, with jury selection. Opening statements were March 16.

A 14-year-old boy’s shocking claims on the stand became the focus of morning testimony at the trial of Joshua

Joshua Dwayne Carrier, 31

Carrier, a former Colorado Springs police officer accused of molesting 22 children.

The boy told jurors that Carrier, who resigned in June amid a massive investigation, tried to get him aroused while examining bumps on his genitals. He said the officer went so far as to “blow softly” while touching him.

He was at least the second child to accuse Carrier of pushing a one-on-one exam at Mann Middle School into overtly sexual territory. Other boys described touching similar to what a doctor would do while administering a physical exam or checking an injury – in what prosecutors have called fondling.

Defense attorneys emphasized differences in what Friday’s witness said on the stand versus what he told Colorado Springs police last May.

Under cross-examination, the boy acknowledged that he was initially wrong about some details, but he stood by the core of his allegations.

Carrier’s attorney, Christopher Decker, also asked the boy’s disciplinary record at school, which includes a suspension after an episode in which he was accused of trying to steal Carrier’s phone. Decker also pointed out his family had signed on to a lawsuit.

Prosecutor Amy Fitch highlighted the boy’s obvious discomfort – drawing out the boy’s concerns people would think he was “gay” if word got out. He told Fitch he felt “stupid” for allowing Carrier to rub his genitals.

Carrier was a volunteer assistant wrestling coach who performed skin-checks on student wrestlers.

He also checked students after sports injuries, and when they felt ill — a role prosecutors say he assumed by falsely billing himself as an EMT. Carrier’s defense attorneys say he completed all the necessary coursework at Pikes Peak Community College.

Carrier faces the potential of life in prison on more than 200 counts alleging he sexually assaulted 22 children.

To follow live coverage of the Carrier trial, follow @lancebenzel on Twitter. Or type in #Carrier in Twitter’s search field.

A juror was booted from the Joshua #Carrier trial Wednesday morning … for posting on

Joshua Dwayne Carrier, 31

Facebook.

Confronted in the courtroom, Juror No. 15 – whose name I’ll hold off on using – insisted that she told friends and family she couldn’t answer their questions about the trial that’s kept her cooped up in court since March 8.

But according to Carrier’s defense attorneys, her Facebook posts divulged the name of the man on trial and complained that testimony was “boring.”

Judge David A. Gilbert gently excused her for what he called a “technical violation.” He asked the courtroom to stand as she was escorted out of the room – and ordered that she not talk to any reporters.

Her departure leaves 15 people on the jury, including three alternates.

The other jurors weren’t present during her interview by Gilbert. When they were brought in, Gilbert reinforced admonitions against researching the case, talking to friends and family members about it, or posting thoughts on social media.

“The integrity of the process relies on the jurors thinking about the evidence themselves.”

The defendant: Stefanie Dickinson, 37, former Ellicott school board member.

The allegations:Dickinson is accused of sending lewd text messages to a 14-year-old boy, and sexually

Photo supplied by Colorado Springs police

assaulting a 17-year-old boy.

What’s new: Dickinson on Wednesday morning pleaded not guilty to all counts. A judge set a June 25 date for her back-to-back trials in the separate cases. After the verdict on the sex assault charges, a new jury will be convened for a separate trial in the sexting case, 4th Judicial District Judge Gregory Werner told the court.

Dickinson attended the hearing with her husband and left the courtroom through a back door – though there were no television cameras to avoid.

Her attorney, Ted McClintock, said he remains “hopeful” there will be a disposition in the case before trial.  

What’s next: Attorneys in the case will return March 21 to argue pre-trial motions, including a request by Dickinson to get back a cell phone and computers that were seized as part of the investigation. Dickinson won’t be required to attend.

A blood trail and tattered clothing marked the 1.5-mile path along which a tow-truck driver was dragged to his death in Colorado Springs last year, police testified Monday as Detra Farries’ trial continues.

Detra Dione Farries

Joseph Thornberg, a Colorado Springs police evidence technician,  spent much of the morning walking jurors through a series of police photographs taken within hours of Allen Lew Rose’s death on Feb. 23.

Beginning at the Hill Park Apartments, where Rose was snagged by a tow cable as Farries allegedly fled a towing, Thornberg described the dragging marks police used to determine Farries’ route.

A blood trail on the asphalt jumped over a curb, crossed a manhole cover and arced around street corners, Thornberg said.

In a gutter, police found a military ID card belonging to the Iraq War veteran.

Further down the path were a wallet containing business cards from J & J Towing, the company he co-owned, a pair of work boots, and a balled-up jacket with his cell phone inside.

Opening statements began Monday, and the trial is expected to last at least three weeks. Farries, 33, faces up to 24 years on the most serious count against her, leaving the scene of a deadly accident. She faces up a 12-year maximum on two other felonies against her, manslaughter and vehicular homicide.

After Thornberg’s testimony, the jury was dismissed for lunch and Judge Jann P. DuBois ruled there will be no additional sanctions imposed on the District Attorney’s Office related to two missing DVDs the defense has called the “crux” of its case.

The judge has already given the defense “wide latitude” to question the integrity of the police investigation, and she said today will be the last time she addresses the topic in court.

Farries’ lead attorney, Eydie Elkins, said the error “destroyed” the defense’s ability to show how the men changed their stories afterward.

The DVDs depicted police interviews with a mechanic and his nephew who were standing with Farries in the apartment parking lot when Rose pulled up.  Both told police that Rose “threw” tow hooks on Farries’ sport-utility vehicle, and at least one of them told police it appeared that Rose was snagged by the cable while he “stomped” or stepped on it after getting hooks onto Farries’ rear-axle.

Police say the discs were misplaced and that efforts to track them down have been unsuccessful.

Elkins had asked the judge to bar prosecutors from attempting to discredit testimony by Donald Hearn by raising his criminal history, saying in court Monday that his arrest and prosecution came after the dragging-death.

After a public defender’s fiery plea on behalf dragging-death suspect Detra Farries, a judge on Wednesday ordered a last-minute inquiry into missing DVDs that could be helpful to her defense.

Fourth Judicial District Judge Jann P. DuBois ordered the review for 8:30 a.m. Monday — the morning jury selection for her trial is to begin.

DuBois’ ruling came after public defender Jeremy Loew suggested that prosecutors want to throw the book at

Detra Dione Farries

Farries but don’t think it’s important to preserve evidence for the other side.

“When is enough enough?” Loew thundered at the pretrial hearing, directing sharp criticism at the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office and calling the missing police videos the “crux” of Farries’ defense.

The case brings out the latest complaint over missing evidence or problems turning over evidence in several major prosecutions in El Paso County.

For more on this story, please visit gazette.com.