Michael Harvey
In a pair of filings last week, a Deaver man’s defense attorney announced that his client was ready to resolve his pending cases in Park County Circuit Court. But just hours after his attorney made the filing, Michael Harvey complicated things by drawing a new, more serious charge.
Harvey was already facing allegations that he’d trespassed at his wife’s Powell residence in March and been barred from contacting her. But on the night of July 10, he allegedly blocked and crashed into her car north of town.
Park County prosecutors filed a count of felony stalking over the incident, plus misdemeanor counts of violating a protection order and leaving the scene of an accident.
Harvey had been free on $12,500 worth of surety bonds at the time of his arrest last week. At the request of prosecutors, Circuit Judge Joey Darrah ruled Friday that Harvey would need to come up with an additional $10,000 in cash to be released on the new charges.
“I take these cases very seriously,” the judge said.
Harvey posted that amount on Tuesday. He’s now free while awaiting further proceedings in four pending criminal cases in Park County.
Multiple cases
Court records show Harvey is currently serving probation in district court for possessing misdemeanor quantities of meth and marijuana in 2023 — and prosecutors have been seeking to revoke that probation since an incident at Powell Valley Hospital last summer.
Charging documents say Harvey was admitted to the hospital in August for a drug overdose. He reportedly became agitated and, as staff attempted to restrain him, his flailing caused a needle to stab an ER nurse in her thumb. That and a positive test for meth led authorities to charge him with misdemeanor counts of battery and use of a controlled substance.
At his initial court appearance on Aug. 30, then-Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Laura Newton argued for a $10,000 cash-only bond. Newton alluded to Harvey's criminal record, which includes two felony child abuse convictions for shooting his then-girlfriend’s young children with a BB gun in 2012. That resulted in a four- to five-year prison sentence, which he completed.
Newton also referenced more recent substance abuse and added that Harvey’s wife had been having a hard time serving him with a domestic violence protective order.
Harvey countered that he’d put himself back into substance abuse treatment following the incident at the hospital, was easy to find and had served his time in the child abuse case.
“That is something that is going to, I guess, follow with me forever and change a lot of my factors in life,” Harvey said of the decade-old case, “but I don’t think it should be used against me every time something happens.”
Darrah allowed Harvey to be released on a $7,500 surety bond, but the defendant was rearrested at his wife’s residence on March 15.
‘Numerous’ calls of domestic violence
Charging documents say the woman told a friend Harvey had broken into her home and wouldn’t let her leave; she told the friend she had locked herself in a bathroom.
Responding officers found the woman “visibly upset” and she said she didn’t know where Harvey was, Officer Reece McLain wrote in an affidavit. Due in part to “previous domestic violence,” McLain said they decided to search the residence, and they found Harvey hiding in a closet.
Harvey claimed that the woman had invited him over and that a no trespassing order had been lifted, but police found the order was still in place and arrested him for criminal trespassing.
Deputy Park County Attorney Larry Eichele requested a $5,000 cash only bond. Siding with the defense, Darrah landed at $5,000 cash or surety.
Harvey was re-released on a trio of overlapping $5,000 and $7,500 surety bonds on March 19 — this time with an ankle monitor and orders to stay away from his wife.
On July 10, public defender Sam Krone filed notice that Harvey was ready to change his not guilty plea and be sentenced on the trespassing case and last year’s altercation at the hospital.
But around 7 p.m. that same day, the Park County Sheriff’s Office received a report that Harvey had stalked his wife.
A new arrest
The woman told a deputy she was approaching a family member’s house on Jason Road when she saw Harvey’s black Chevy Tahoe parked in the road and blocking her from turning.
The woman drove around Harvey’s truck, but he allegedly followed her and crashed into her rear bumper. An off-duty Cody police officer, Jeremy Traverse, witnessed the encounter and intervened to help the woman. Traverse reportedly told a deputy that he thought the altercation “was growing more aggressive.”
Harvey drove off, but was arrested in Deaver a short time later. Through the stalking charge, prosecutors allege Harvey intended to harass his wife in violation of the protection order.
Speaking in court on Friday, Eichele indicated that there had been other “marginal” reports that had not been charged.
“This is an ongoing conduct, not just a one time offense,” he said, “and it involved the blocking of her ability to move around freely, so I take this very seriously.”
Harvey asked for a $5,000 surety bond with an ankle monitor, suggesting he could be ordered to remain at home when he’s not working or at counseling. He also offered to do multiple check-ins.
However, Darrah said the $10,000 figure proposed by Eichele was “absolutely reasonable under these circumstances.”
He reiterated that Harvey must continue to wear an ankle monitor and have no contact with his wife.
A preliminary hearing was tentatively scheduled for today (Thursday) but has since been delayed.
As of Tuesday, Park County prosecutors had not moved to revoke Harvey’s three earlier bonds.
