The Mack attack is stopped in its tracks

Jeffery “Mack” Steffen’s Jasper Mayoral campaign may have hit a brick wall last night as the six person jury found him guilty on four counts of felony intimidation and one felony count of theft. There was an intimidation count for each of the four victims (Lindsey Denton, Alex Schneidecker, Jason Walters, and Jordan Shelton) and the theft of a moped key Steffen took from Denton. After the verdict the visibly upset Steffen declined to make any statements concerning the verdict.

According to Steffen’s attorney, Scott Blazey, Steffen has thirty days to appeal the verdict. Blazey also commented that at the sentencing hearing the judge could downgrade the charges to misdemeanors due to Steffen not having a criminal record.

The trial began at 8 a.m. yesterday. The jury heard testimony from Steffen, witnesses, the responding police officers, and the four victims throughout the day. The final arguments from Blazey and prosecuting attorney Kevin Crouse were completed around 5:30 and after instruction from Judge William E. Weikert the jury entered into deliberation. An hour later they returned and presented Judge Weikert with the verdicts.

Blazey had petitioned the judge early in the afternoon to drop all charges due to lack of evidence on the State’s part. The Judge declined and the trial continued.

The courtroom was fairly empty at the end of the day with media outnumbering spectators. Evidence sitting near the prosecuting included three guns and bullets as well as the alleged brick that Jason Walters threatened Steffen with.

The three guns were found on Steffen’s person and in his vehicle at the scene. Steffen has a license to carry the weapons and states he does so as protection due to his business dealing in valuable coins and gold.

The charges of intimidation stem from his showing the gun and allegedly stating he would pistol whip the four victims. The altercation occurred when Steffen was attempting to retrieve a key for a moped he had purchased from Lindsey Denton. When he arrived at the residence, Jason Walters, apparently drunk (he admitted to drinking a fifth of whiskey at the scene) became aggressive towards Steffen when he attempted to retrieve the key.

The defense attempted to sway the jury by playing the expletive laced 911 call Denton made from the scene to show the victims were never intimidated by Steffen. The defense asked the jury to consider the demeanors of all the victims at the time. Concerning the charge of theft, Blazey pointed out that if Steffen was truly attempting to steal the key he would not have stayed at the scene waiting for police to arrive. The key was found on the ground in Steffen’s vicinity at the time of his arrest.

Crouse explained that Steffen is facing a minimum sentence of 18 months but due to Steffen being convicted of a multitude of charges it could be upgraded to as many as four years.