A Powell woman served more than three months in jail for bizarre behavior that included driving her vehicle toward a family and fleeing from police. Her defense attorney says the incidents stemmed from mental health issues.

Jenna H. Carder, 39, originally faced one felony and 11 misdemeanor charges for a trio of separate incidents that occurred between mid-May and early July.

Carder ultimately agreed to plead no contest to five misdemeanors, while prosecutors dismissed the rest of the charges.

At an Oct. 13 hearing, Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah accepted the terms of the negotiated plea deal and sentenced Carder to two-and-a-half years of supervised probation. She was credited for the 103 days she’d served since in jail and ordered to pay $640 to the court.

The arrangement was OK’d by the family members that Carder endangered with her SUV in early July; they reportedly wanted the extended supervision.

“Their biggest issue … is that they’re very concerned, literally, about the safety of the community,” Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Ericka Smith said of the victims, “because it’s not hard to see just even searching Google to see what … Jenna Carder’s behavior and her contacts with law enforcement have been like over the last even six months …”

Three separate incidents

The first incident occurred on May 14, when Carder was arrested by Powell police on suspicion of impaired driving; charging documents say Carder appeared restless and exhibited unusual behavior, but a blood test didn’t find any alcohol or drugs in her system and the DUI charge was eventually dropped.

Then on May 28, Carder reportedly flipped off, swore at and hit a man who was playing with his child at Southside Park. In that instance, a portable breath test put her blood alcohol concentration at 0.183% — more than double the point at which a person would be considered too impaired to drive. She eventually received convictions for unlawful contact and pedestrian under the influence.

The most serious incident came on the night of July 2. Court records say a woman and her two boys were in the St. Barbara’s Catholic Church parking lot off Bent Street when Carder drove by in her Chevy Equinox. She reportedly made an obscene gesture and yelled, “F— you!”

Carder later pulled into the parking lot and, according to the woman’s account to police, Carder “accelerated directly toward her and her children.” She came to an abrupt stop about 5 feet away and then left, charging documents say.

Prosecutor Smith initially charged the crime as aggravated assault, but reduced it to reckless endangering as part of the plea deal.

Powell police officers quickly located Carder’s vehicle that night, but she led them and a Park County sheriff’s deputy on a roughly half-hour chase around town; it ended only when she drove over their spike strips and was forced out of her vehicle.

When police later asked why she didn’t stop, Carder reportedly responded, “I don’t know.” She was convicted of eluding police and interference with a peace officer for her flight and resistance.

‘A huge public safety concern’

At this month’s sentencing hearing, defense attorney Tim Blatt attributed the summer’s events to long-running mental health issues. Though Carder was on medication, Blatt said she began experiencing difficulties late last year and sought help “before it got to the point that led to this bizarre behavior.”

Carder had stopped taking her medication and Blatt said he believed that also caused a reaction. When he first spoke with Carder after her July arrest, her behavior was “erratic,” Blatt said, but she’s now doing considerably better.

“We’re hoping that is no longer an issue,” he told the court.

Smith expressed some skepticism, calling Blatt’s explanation for the behavior “assumptions and speculation.”

Though the blood test from the May DUI arrest came back clean, “law enforcement is absolutely dismayed that the DUI was dismissed because her behavior was wildly erratic,” Smith said. “She could not stand. She could not do anything.”

As for the July 2 incident, Smith said that what happened to the woman and her boys that night “was terrifying, frightening.” 

Whether the issues stemmed from substance abuse, mental health issues or both, “the supervised probation is a great opportunity for those things to be addressed,” Smith said.

Blatt expressed similar hopes, while Judge Darrah told Carder to take any needed medications.

“It sounds to me like the meds may be a part of the problem here, but it is a huge public safety concern,” Darrah told her. “I hope you realize when you’re not taking your medication properly that it does create issues, which have manifested themselves in this case …”

The judge also encouraged the defendant to work with probation and parole and get her life back on track, noting that any future issues “could be much worse.”