A public defender has withdrawn from representing a Butte man accused of discharging bear spray at two state troopers during a police chase, but the attorney got a bad look for her client cleared up first.
Prosecutors said 28-year-old Colby Tanner Zier refused to go from the jail to District Court for his initial arraignment on March 28. District Judge Kurt Kreuger postponed the plea hearing and a week later, Zier appeared in person, cuffed and dressed in orange jail garb, and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The initial refusal was noted in court records and The Montana Standard reported on it twice in stories. It was also noted in a television news story.
Kaylee Hafer, a public defender who was representing Zier until this week, knew that was not a good look for Zier and believed it could be detrimental to his case.
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Actually, she said, Zier never refused to appear in person in the first place. Zier has pierced ears and had retainers in them on March 28 to keep the holes from closing. A jailer demanded he take it out, Hafer said, and when Zier did not, the jailer would not let him be escorted from the jail to the courthouse.
That was a wrong call, Hafer said, and Zier appeared in court the next week with the objects in his ears.
Hafer filed a court motion in May asking the record be corrected, saying Zier was denied an appearance instead of refusing to appear. Krueger granted that motion in June.
Hafer recently requested that she be allowed to withdraw as counsel for Zier, saying in a motion that the attorney-client relationship “has deteriorated to such a degree that all communication has broken down …”
After a hearing on Thursday, Kreuger granted the request and new counsel will be appointed to represent Zier.
According to prosecutors, police were trying to locate a suspect vehicle outside a casino on Harrison Avenue on Feb. 14 when they spotted the car and tried to make a stop, but Zier took off into an alley behind Elm Street.
He drove his car directly at a trooper’s patrol car and hit it, and when the trooper got out, Zier rolled down his window and sprayed bear spray at that officer and another trooper. He took off again but was soon apprehended.
He is charged with three counts of assault with a weapon, criminal possession of drugs with intent to distribute and possession of property subject to forfeiture — all felonies — and misdemeanor counts of theft and resisting arrest.
He faces up to 110 years in prison if convicted of the assault and drug charges.
Mike Smith is a reporter at the Montana Standard with an emphasis on government and politics.
