Prosecutors have agreed to drop a felony charge and will not seek jail time for a man who in 2023 drove his pickup into a person, pinning her against a Great Falls bar, after yelling at her about being transgender.
John P. Carr, 59 years old, agreed to plead no contest to criminal endangerment, a felony, for the attack. As part of a plea agreement signed on January 31, the prosecutor agreed to drop a second felony, failure to remain at the scene of an accident.
According to the plea, Carr will receive a five-year suspended sentence, which means he will serve no additional jail time. Court documents indicate he will receive credit for spending four days in jail after his arrest, but he has otherwise been out on bond throughout the case. A plea hearing is scheduled for Feb. 26 before District Judge John Parker.
The victim was seriously injured with a fractured pelvis and a puncture wound in her thigh. Emergency responders found her on the ground, in severe pain with “fluid” coming out of their mouth, according to charging documents. A GoFundMe page set up shortly after the attack raised more than $5,000 and said the victim faced a long road to recovery.
Attempts by Montana Free Press to reach the victim were unsuccessful.
Court documents say that on February 17, 2023, Carr was leaving Cowboys Bar in Great Falls when he asked the victim, “Are you one of those transgender people?” Witnesses told police that Carr continued to “yell” at the victim about being trans before driving his pickup into her, pinning her against the building and nearly missing another witness who jumped out of the way.
Carr then drove away, leaving the victim on the ground. After posting a bar surveillance photo of Carr on Facebook, police identified him the following morning. When police arrived, Carr was pulling a dent out of his pickup fender using a rope and tree, and there was blood on the fender, the documents say. He claimed he didn’t know that he hit anybody.
Carr initially pleaded not guilty to two felonies. Court hearings were repeatedly postponed, and it took nearly two years to reach a resolution. The prosecutor in the case, Chief Criminal Deputy County Attorney Kory Larsen, blamed the change in defense attorneys for the length of the case. Carr was assigned a new public defender in February 2024 due to unspecified conflicts.
Speaking with MTFP, Larsen said that the plea deal reflects accountability “for what the conduct was.”
“Based upon the way the incident occurred, it looked to me like a guy who was a little under the influence, thought he had it in reverse and he actually had it in drive,” Larsen said.
Criminal endangerment carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Montana laws for assault include a sentence enhancement option for offenses due to the victim’s race, creed, religion, color, national origin or involvement in civil rights or human rights activities. The law doesn’t recognize sexual orientation or gender expression as a reason for an enhancement.
Federal prosecutors can consider crimes committed against a person based on their sexual orientation or gender identity as a hate crime.
Speaking to a Great Falls crowd in February 2024, Montana U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said that hate crimes based on sexual orientation had been the highest in the five previous years, in particular crimes targeting transgender people.
“We get wrapped up in this national conversation, and I’m just telling you that law enforcement, local, state and federal are all moving mountains to hold people accountable,” Laslovich said at the time.
No federal charges have been filed against Carr as of February 4.
This story was originally published by Montana Free Press at montanafreepress.org.
