GREEN RIVER — After three days of testimony and around three hours of deliberation this afternoon, a jury found Charles Laird Kincaid guilty of aggravated assault and battery stemming from an altercation with his wife back in February.

Kincaid, 31, was initially arrested for attempted second-degree murder, but the charge was later changed to aggravated assault. The maximum penalty for that felony is 10 years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both.

The jury heard testimony this week from Kincaid’s wife, Ashton Crain, along with the dispatcher and several Rock Springs Police Officers who were called to the couple’s home on February 25.

According to Crain’s testimony, she and Kincaid had a rocky, six-month marriage where he often displayed two very different personalities.

She said Kincaid was an alcoholic who became “creepy” and “paranoid” when he was drinking.

On the night of the incident, Crain, an audiologist, said she was sleeping after a long day of working in Rawlins and battling bad roads coming home. She said Kincaid had been drinking and woke her around 11:30 pm to tell her that their dog was outside.

When she returned inside she said Kincaid was in their bedroom with a .44 magnum handgun tucked into his pants.

[The couple had been briefly separated in 2019 but we’re back together to try and work out their problems, Crain said. Crain said she admitted to Kincaid when they were separated that she became attracted to another man in January, and that her feelings were getting stronger. She later admitted to having a physical relationship with the man and told Kincaid about it. Kincaid was not working at the time, and Crain said she was becoming increasingly frustrated that he was doing nothing to better his life.]

At that point, Kincaid threatened to call Crain’s boss and expose her past marijuana use. She said he went so far as to hold up his cell phone and asked her if the number being displayed was her boss.

“The message was intimidation…that he was in control,” Crain told County Attorney Dan Erramouspe.

Aggravated Assault

Crain said Kincaid then emptied five rounds from the revolver, put them in his pocket, held the gun to his head and pulled the trigger twice. The gun did not fire, and Crain said she was pleading with Kincaid that he was loved and had people in his life who could help him.

She said she began to call 911 when Kincaid told her to stop, pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger.

Again the gun did not fire, and Crain was able to contact 911.

The phone call was entered into evidence, and Crain is audibly having a panic attack, something she said she takes medication for but hadn’t that day. Kincaid’s voice can also be heard on the call, and Crain said he was taunting her by whistling The Good, The Bad and The Ugly movie theme song.

RSPD Officer Amanda Buller was the first at the scene and described Crain as being “terrified.” Body camera footage shows Kincaid with a common kitchen knife when Buller approaches him. Crain said Kincaid had returned to the kitchen where he was cooking something to eat.

Opposing Views

Defense attorney Eric Phillips asked Crain about the amount of medication she took for anxiety, depression and nightmares, https://ryderclinic.com/valium-diazepam/. Several prescription bottles were located on the bedroom dresser during the investigation. He also asked her about past marijuana use and whether her boss knew about it.

Crain said she took medication as a last resort, and recently told her boss about the marijuana use. She also said Kincaid would often clean the house and have dinner ready for her when she got home from work “which was appreciated.”

In his closing argument, Phillips told the jury that Crain’s medication use could have created confusion in her mind about the details of that night. He added that stopping the medication could create even bigger cognitive problems as well.

He called the police investigation ” extremely sloppy” and that no evidence was presented at trial which clearly showed whether Crain was taking her medication.

Erramouspe said in his rebuttal that Phillips’ comment about “having real problems” with Crain’s testimony didn’t wash because Phillips never spoke specifically to those problems in his close.

“And the reason why was because (Crain) told the truth from the beginning,” Erramouspe said. “She said what she said every single time.”

Erramouspe said Phillips’ portrayal of Crain as “a liar” because she had an affair and used marijuana was inaccurate and the true nature of Kincaid’s actions that night “was to torment” Crain.

“They want you to look elsewhere,” Erramouspe said about the defense’s case. “They don’t want you looking down the barrel of that .44 mag.”

After both sides rested their cases, the jury took a little over three hours to deliver the verdict.

Kincaid will be sentenced at a later date and remains in the Sweetwater County Detention Facility on $200,000 bond.