Judge denies bond reduction request

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Tribune staff reports

Jackson Circuit Judge Richard W. Poynter on Friday denied a bond reduction request from a Seymour man accused of refusing to get his 8-year-old son medical help after the child ingested methamphetamine on June 21.

Curtis Collman, 41, will continue to be held on a $50,000 cash bond at the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown because of Poynter’s decision made Friday. That decision followed a hearing Thursday afternoon on Collman’s request for a bond reduction.

Collman’s trial is set for 9:30 a.m. Dec. 4 in the Jackson Circuit Court. He faces a Level 1 felony charge of neglect of a dependent causing death after he refused to call 911 for his son, Curtis Collman III, and prevented others from calling. A Level 1 felony is punishable by a sentence between 20 and 40 years with an advisory sentence of 30 years.

He also faces felony charges of intimidation, failure to register as a sex offender and possession of methamphetamine along with misdemeanor charges of theft and pointing a firearm at an unarmed person.

Public defender Alan Marshal, Collman’s court-appointed attorney, could not be reached for comment and did not respond to a voicemail left by The Tribune on Saturday.

During Thursday’s hearing, the state called Jackson County Detective Tom Barker as a witness to detail a previous police encounter involving Collman in which he fled police, as evidence against the bond reduction. Barker said he assisted other departments in locating him after that incident.

He also testified about how Collman fled police for hours after his son’s death and police found his car under tree branches and brush.

Jackson County Officer Adam Nicholson also testified and said Collman threatened to kill himself and others during the incident.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jeff Chalfant on Saturday declined to comment on Poynter’s decision.

A toxicology report released Thursday showed Collman’s son had 180 times the lethal dose of methamphetamine in his bloodstream.

The report said he had 18,000 nanograms per milliliter in his bloodstream. A lethal dose of methamphetamine is 100 nanograms per milliliter, police said.

The boy died at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour after police were called to his grandparents’ rural Crothersville home. The boy had been in the care of his father, who had custody.

Police said the boy had spent the night of June 20 with his father. The boy ingested the methamphetamine, police said, and became ill sometime in the morning June 21. His father later took him to his grandparents’ home and at some point, he became unresponsive.

The boy told his father he was hungry and his father told him there was no food and returned to sleep, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Police also said methamphetamine on a glass plate was found in the home and one officer said it could have been mistaken for cereal crumbs in the home’s poor lighting.

It’s unclear how much methamphetamine Collman consumed at his father’s Seymour home, and Barker said the toxicology report does not show that amount.

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