HEBER – Jason Andrew Bernard, 48, of Heber, was arrested on April 13 by detectives from the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office and attempted second degree murder, aggravated domestic violence, aggravated assault, and drug possession-related domestic violence suspected paraphernalia.
Bernard is considered innocent by law and based on court records, a Navajo County grand jury charged him not with any of the alleged acts of violence for which the detectives arrested him, but rather with his class 4 dangerous drug possession charge, Crime and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia a grade 6 crime, the latter being the least serious crime in Arizona.
A 36-year-old woman who lives in Scottsdale called 911 from a location on Quail Run Road in Heber at around 6:30 p.m. on April 12, according to an April press release from the NCSO. She is said to have told the operator that she was attacked by a man who “tried to kill her” and was able to give a description of the man. The press release at the time stated: “After the initial investigation, the MPs learned that the victim was sexually abused (suffocated) and attacked until he was unconscious. Jason Bernard identified the victim as the person who attacked them, ”the statement said. The following day, detectives located and arrested Bernard, who was in custody on April 20 on a $ 750,000 loan. As mentioned above, Bernard was not charged with the serious allegations and is no longer in custody.
A grand jury does not determine a person’s guilt or innocence; a “small” jury does this in one process. It is the job of a grand jury to determine whether there is a probable cause for criminal charges and it appears that the grand jury was not convinced that there was one in this case in relation to the assault allegations.
The June 8th state disclosure listed four law enforcement officers as potential witnesses and, oddly enough, one woman identified as a “victim”. A simple case of possession or use of drugs is not a victim in the legal sense of the word.
A Jason Andrew Bernard with the same date of birth as the defendant in Navajo County was convicted in Yavapai County on May 2, 2012 of serious DUI with a child in a car, according to local court records.
When Bernard committed this crime, he was on parole in a 2007 case, possibly a previous DUI-related case, as the 2012 DUI was allegedly his second in an 84 month period. He avoided prison but was sentenced to nine months in Yavapai County Detention Center with a work permit.
His next trial on the Navajo County drug charges is August 9th.
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