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Carden gets 30-month sentence for choking his wife

John Colson
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, Colorado CO

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado – A former school teacher was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months in prison for choking his estranged wife nearly into unconsciousness during a visit in 2011 to her Carbondale home.

Daniel C. Carden, 38, of No Name, had been free on bail but was taken into custody immediately after being sentenced in Garfield District Court by Judge James Boyd.

Carden, who formerly taught at Eagle Valley High School, faced up to six years in prison after reaching a plea agreement with the district attorney’s office.



By pleading guilty to a charge of menacing, a class four felony, Carden avoided a trial on the more serious charge of attempted murder. The district attorney also dropped a charge of child abuse, originally filed because the assault took place in front of at least one of the couple’s two children.

If convicted at trial, Carden could have faced up to 16 years in prison.



Deputy District Attorney Anne Norrdin told the judge that the incident “was not an accident.” She said Carden had threatened to kill his estranged wife on more than one occasion before the June 3, 2011, attack that led to his arrest.

“He strangled her until she stopped fighting,” Norrdin said of the June 3 incident. “He enjoyed the idea that she was extremely afraid of him.”

Defense attorney Greg Greer told the judge that Carden had accepted responsibility for his acts, pointing out “very, very self-revealing” portions of Carden’s written statement to the judge about the case.

“He’s a different person than he was when this happened,” Greer said.

Carden, speaking on his own behalf, tearfully told Judge Boyd that he is committed to overcoming his personal problems. He said he is “remorseful that it happened.”

The judge conceded that Carden had been “notably forthright in acknowledging what you did, why you did it, and what you felt inside as you did it … to control and instill fear, and force the victim to submit.”

Carden will also be liable to pay restitution to his estranged wife, but that aspect of the case is on hold for three months to avoid overlapping with the couple’s ongoing divorce case.

jcolson@postindependent.com


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