Judge cites court violation, revokes bail
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By PATRICK McARDLE STAFF WRITER - Published: September 5, 2009
STAMFORD – A judge revoked a local man's bail on Wednesday after police said the man went to the home of a woman on Monday, hours after being charged with assaulting her, despite a court order that he stay away from the woman and her home.
Scott Winkelmann, 30, of Stamford, was arraigned Monday in Bennington District Court on a felony charge of first-degree aggravated domestic assault.
In an affidavit, Vermont State Police Trooper Christopher Burnett said police met a woman on Sunday around 5:45 p.m. at a store on Route 100.
"I observed she had a dark bruise on the left side of her neck with clear marks which appeared to be left by fingers of a hand," Burnett said.
The woman said Winkelmann, who she knew, had assaulted her around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday after he had spent the day drinking. According to the woman, Winkelmann slammed a door on her right hand, threw her to the ground and pushed his finger against her eye which she told police "hurt bad."
Police said the woman told them that Winkelmann had put his hands around her throat and lifted her off the ground until she nearly blacked out.
The woman said she had spent three days in the hospital, about a year and a half ago, after a previous assault by Winkelmann.
Bennington County Chief Deputy State's Attorney Christina Rainville called the incident an "incredibly violent" act and asked that Winkelmann be held without bail for the safety of the woman who reported the alleged assault. She said the state was also concerned because two children, 2 and 4, were present during the incident.
Rainville said Winkelmann had been charged with domestic assault before although the charge was later modified to simple assault.
Judge John Wesley set Winkelmann's bail at $1,500 bail on Monday.
But police said that Winkelmann appeared to have returned to the woman's home sometime after being released on bail on Monday.
The woman told police a neighbor said she saw Winkelmann leaving the home on Tuesday morning. When the woman checked the house, the front door seemed to be open and a pair of blue jeans, which she said belonged to Winkelmann, and the paperwork he was given after his arraignment, were on her bed, she told police.
A car that belonged to Winkelmann's mother, which had been parked in the driveway, was now gone, the woman said. When police spoke to Winkelmann's mother, she said they had gone to the home together but that she, not Winkelmann, had entered the home to retrieve the keys to her car, according to the affidavit.
On Wednesday, police were given a Beretta .380 caliber automatic handgun which the woman said she found in Winkelmann's car. Police said the gun was loaded, cocked and had a round in the chamber.
Winkelmann was arraigned on a felony charge of unlawful trespass of an occupied home and misdemeanor charges of violation of an abuse prevention order and violation of conditions of release from custody.
Wesley said on Wednesday that Winkelmann had "supplied by his own actions the factors that were missing" that allowed the court to decide whether Winkelmann would follow court orders. Wesley revoked Winkelmann's conditions of release from Monday and ordered him held without bail.
If convicted of all the charges against him, Winkelmann could be sentenced to more than 19 years in prison.
patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com
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