District Court News

A change of plea hearing was recently held in Fourth Judicial District Court in Sheridan for 46-year-old Kimberlee Salstrom, who was arrested and charged with taking a controlled substance into jail on June 16. A morphine sulfate pill was found in her belongings while she was being booked into the Sheridan County Detention Center on an outstanding warrant out of Montana. Pursuant to a plea agreement reached with the state, Salstrom pleaded guilty to an amended charge of misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance in pill form. Since the charge was amended from a felony to a misdemeanor, Salstrom was also sentenced at the hearing.

District Court Judge Darci Phillips accepted the terms of the plea agreement and sentenced Salstrom to 120 days in jail, suspended in lieu of one-year of unsupervised probation. Salstrom was ordered to pay $250 in court costs and fees and $500 in public defender fees. She must also complete a substance abuse evaluation and follow any and all recommendations that result from the evaluation.

Also from District Court, 59-year-old Gerald Moore pleaded not guilty to the charge of strangulation of a household member for an incident that occurred on September 12 in Sheridan County. Judge Phillips scheduled a three-day jury trial for March 13 and set the date for a pretrial conference for February 14 at 10 am. Moore’s bond was continued under the same terms and conditions that were previously set in Circuit Court. Strangulation of a household member is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.