Judge Martha Minot on Thursday set bond at $25,000 for Kyle Ryan Cooper, 25, who is charged with attempted murder.
Judicial District Attorney Todd Risberg said prosecutors had asked Minot to set Cooper’s bond at $100,000 and forbid Cooper, who has two felony convictions in Florida, from possessing weapons as a condition of his release from jail pending trial.
Cooper is accused of stabbing Zachary Olivier in the chest with a knife on Wednesday night outside Orios Roadhouse, the Main Avenue bar where Olivier was working as a bouncer.
Olivier was still in the intensive care unit at Mercy Regional Medical Center on Thursday evening.
Heidi Orio, owner of Orios Roadhouse, said she was “appalled” by “the absurdly low” bail amount.
“Why? What’s the judge’s reasoning behind that? You know someone did this crime. I just feel this is absurd and totally wrong,” she said.
Risberg said both the amount of money and conditions that Minot stipulated for Cooper’s bail were much more lenient than what prosecutors had asked for.
“I think he’s a danger to the community. It appears he was intoxicated and stabbed someone. I guess she has a different assessment of what constitutes a danger to the community. It’s the judge’s decision. I just hope she’s right.”
Risberg said Cooper scored a 4 on the Colorado Pretrial Assessment Tool, an instrument that judges use to assess the likelihood of a defendant fleeing before trial.
“That’s the highest score possible. I don’t think that all defendants need to sit in jail. But (Judge Jeffrey) Wilson saw the same arrest affidavit, and we know he initially set (Cooper’s) bail at $750,000.”
In a phone message, Minot said, “I cannot comment on a pending trial.”
As of Thursday afternoon, public defender Justin Bogan had not returned requests for comment.
According to the arrest affidavit, the night of the stabbing, Olivier told his father Jeffery Olivier – who had stopped into Orios to visit him – that he “had to throw a guy out of the bar because he was intoxicated and had bear-hugged a female from behind, picking her up off the ground.”
Jeffery Olivier told police that Zachary “confronted this guy and began warning him to settle down” when “this guy grabbed Zachary in a headlock. ... (Zachary) had to push the guy off him and punch him several times before getting him out of the bar.”
Jeffrey Olivier told police that when he and his son later left the bar, Cooper was waiting outside and pounced.
Jeffrey Olivier said Cooper lunged at Zachary – appearing to punch him in the stomach – then ran away as Zachary “yelled he’d been stabbed” while “clenching his chest and blood began saturating his shirt around his hands.”
According to the arrest affidavit, Cooper was working at Twilight Painting at the time of his arrest. His previous employer, Jason Davenport of Rockytop Painting, had “fired him a few weeks ago for stealing.” Sam Yaeger, Cooper’s new boss at Twilight Painting, told police “Cooper always carries a Kershaw brand folding pocket knife clipped to his pocket.”
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
