PUEBLO, Colo. — According to Tenth Judicial District Attorney Jeff Chostner, James Justice has been sentenced to 96 years in prison after being found guilty for his actions on January 29, 2021.
BACKGROUND
According to the office of Tenth Judicial District Attorney Jeff Chostner, the following events took place on Friday, January 29, 2021.
At around 12 p.m., the Pueblo Police Department received a call from an anonymous woman
saying that a man (later identified as James Justice) was menacing an unknown couple outside of the Motel 6 at 4103 N. Elizabeth Drive.
At around 12:13 p.m., PPD Officer Anthony Cordova responded to the area and contacted James Justice in the parking lot near Pueblo Sleep Solutions. Officer Cordova exited his vehicle and asked to speak to Justice.
Justice fumbled with his jacket and a plastic bag before pulling out a .410 Taurus Judge.
Justice fired 3-4 rounds at the officer, striking his patrol vehicle. Officer Cordova fired four rounds back at Justice, but missed every time.
Officer Cordova then began to chase Justice by DJ's Steakhouse and the Spirit Store. During the chase, a citizen told the officer that Justice ran by a dumpster behind the Spirit Store.
Several more PPD units arrived and surrounded the dumpster; however, it was later found that Justice had actually jumped a fence that led into the Pueblo Grande Village Mobile Home Park and lost a shoe in the process.
PPD Officer Aaron Sanders deployed a PPD drone to track Justice through the mobile park and provide updates to the officers searching the park for Justice.
PPD Officer Richard Giconi found Justice a #202 Post Street in the mobile home park.
Officer Giconi exited his vehicle and gave Justice several verbal commands. Justice ignored all of the commands and took off running. Officer Giconi chased Justice around mobile home unit #202.
As Officer Giconi rounded the back of the mobile home, Justice fired two rounds at him.
Officer Giconi dove to the ground to avoid being hit by the bullets before firing back seven times from a .223 rifle. All seven rounds missed Justice.
Justice then fled through a neighboring yard and came back out next to mobile home lot #217. While there, Justice dropped several shell casings, a black backpack, ear plugs, a purple lighter and a power cord.
It is also believed that it was at this point that Justice reloaded his pistol.
PPD Officer Sanders aired to PPD Detective Chad Jefferies and PPD Officer Scott Vahlbusch that Justice was hiding behind a red truck.
Justice, who was in fact hiding behind the red truck, fired in the direction of Detective Jefferies and Officer Vahlbusch before running across the street and firing at officers again.
Justice zig-zagged across the street and ended up at mobile home lot #225 on Loras Street.
Detective Jefferies continued to pursue Justice and took cover at mobile home lot #228. From there, Detective Jefferies fired three .223 rounds at Justice.
One of the rounds pierced an aluminum shed that Justice was hiding behind, striking Justice in the left leg.
PPD officers converged on Justice and took him into custody before calling for medical personnel.
Justice was later charged with 4 counts of Criminal Attempt of Murder in the First Degree and 4 counts of Assault in the First Degree.
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