36 year-old Jason Simonetti is in the Missoula County Jail on $50,000 bond after being charged with two felonies; assault with a weapon and criminal mischief.
According to court documents Simonetti allegedly held a woman identified as Jane Doe as a hostage as he drove around Missoula slashing tires with a knife.
The female victim said she had ‘bruises all over her body from him throwing her around her apartment’.
Deputy Missoula County Attorney Brandon Zeak explained why the state was asking for $75,000 bond.
“The state's position as to whether or not bail was appropriate in this case was based on the fact that the defendant had a PSA level three active, which identifies the recommendation from the state that the defendant should be held with bail,” said Zeak. “That was based on the fact that the defendant had a criminal history dating back to 2016, which identified multiple dangerous crimes that he was convicted of including criminal endangerment, multiple failures to appear, theft and DUI.”
Zeak described the terror experienced by the victim throughout the day.
“The defendant exhibited clear danger to himself and the victim, and essentially is the state's position from speaking to the alleged victim in this case that she's absolutely terrified of his escalating behavior,” he said. “The state believes that if he would be to be released that there's a high likely likelihood that the defendant would have seriously hurt himself or somebody else.”
Zeak said there was a ‘terrorizing set of behaviors’ exhibited by the defendant.
“The acts that were alleged in the complaint were not only acts that occurred over the past couple of days that were reported to law enforcement, but were part of a terrorizing set of behaviors that happened in the weeks prior to the events,” he said. “That level three active we thought was appropriate, due to both the nature of the allegations, his criminal history, alongside the numerous failures to appear in the past on those prior convictions which identified to us that the defendant would have been a flight risk and pose basically an unwillingness to abide by any court conditions that should have been set.”
Zeak wrapped up by stating to Judge Landee Holloway that a significant bond amount was necessary to protect the public, the victim and the defendant himself.
“So we believe that bail was warranted to protect both the community safety, specifically the victim in this case and himself,” he said. “It's the state's understanding that law enforcement had an interview with the defendant’s mother who advised law enforcement that the defendant is a continuing danger, and so due to his history of fleeing and eluding nature of the allegations themselves in this case, alongside of the nature of the allegations, or at least his convictions and his criminal history, the state believes that bail was necessary. We did ask for $75,000. The court did impose bail in the amount of $50,000 at this time.”
Simonetti was remanded back to the Missoula County Jail on $50,000 bond.
(The information in this article was obtained from sources that are publicly available.)