Two more plead guilty in jail escape

CLOVIS — A man and woman charged with assisting the escape effort this summer of three local jail inmates each pleaded guilty last week to charges.

Jon Hausmann, 38, pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon to one fourth-degree felony charge of harboring or aiding a felon, through an agreement by which three other felony charges from the summer were dismissed. Hausmann was arrested June 19, when sheriff deputies followed an anonymous tip to a residence near Clovis’ Dennis Chavez park and found him there concealing the three Curry County jail inmates who had escaped four days earlier.

Per the agreement, Judge Drew Tatum sentenced Hausmann to 5 1/2 years in the Department of Corrections — 18 months for the new felony conviction and four years from enhancement on prior felony convictions. He is eligible for standard good-time credit and has already logged 217 days in custody.

Albuquerque defense attorney Pilar Murray requested Hausmann be granted a few hours of furlough before he started his sentence, in order to visit with his children and their mother and to sell his truck. Hausmann spoke then, telling the judge his youngest son was born two months ago. He appeared in custody and did not otherwise speak in the hearing but to state his guilty plea.

Tatum denied the request, stating furloughs are “something that I simply cannot take a risk on any longer” but for rare instances.

Had Hausmann’s case gone to trial, he faced up to 22 years in prison and $20,000 in fines. Tatum called the agreement a “fair plea for all sides,” and Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Stover called the agreement a “just resolution.”

Resolution is still to come in the case of former detention officer Sarina Dodson, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to all her charges stemming from June 15: three counts of assisting escape, and one count of bringing contraband into jail.

Judge Matthew Chandler presided over the afternoon hearing and accepted defense attorney Frank Rio’s request that Dodson be granted a 60-day diagnostic evaluation in the Department of Corrections prior to sentencing. Rio said Dodson’s involvement in the escape — allowing an inmate to use her cell phone and then clearing the trio’s exit from the jail recreational yard on June 15 — was an “isolated incident” and “out of character,” indicating she might be “more amenable to rehabilitation than some of the other individuals involved in this incident.”

Stover, who also represented the state in Tuesday’s hearing, had no objection to Rio’s request. A diagnostic gives the court a more “full picture” before sentencing, and since Dodson faces anywhere from probation to over 10 years in prison Stover said “a 60-day diagnostic to make sure we get it right is appropriate.”

Dodson, 28, who appeared in custody with her attorney, does not have a criminal history in New Mexico but told Chandler she had prior mental health issues not detailed in open court.

All three jail escapees were apprehended June 19; Victor Apodaca was sentenced Jan. 14 to 16 years in prison through a plea agreement, while Aaron Clark and Ricky Sena are scheduled for trials in February and March, respectively.