Wind farm foe put on probation
Ordered to register as violent offender for shooting toward surveyors
Staff writer
Despite a flurry of motions, a Florence woman was sentenced Feb. 22 to 18 months’ probation, ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation, and told to register as a violent offender.
Judge Benjamin Sexton handed down the sentence to Amy D. Stutzman for her Sept. 30 conviction on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The charges stem from shooting Dec. 5, 2019, into the ground near three surveyors working for Expedition Wind to survey right-of-way on her property. Stutzman was an ardent foe of wind farm development.
Stutzman filed a motion a week after her conviction asking for a new trial, claiming there was not ample proof for 12 reasonable people to have found guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Her lawyer, Carl Cornwell of Olathe, filed a motion Feb. 18 asking that she be given probation instead of prison because her grandchildren live with her, because she has not been in trouble with the law any other time, and because her behavior “was an emotional response to a wind farm.”
On the same day, he filed a motion asking the judge to overturn the jury’s conviction and acquit her or order a new trial. That motion argued that because Stutzman never pointed her gun directly at the victims and they never were placed in “reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm.”
Outside of court, Stutzman emailed photos that she claims show “deep fake” video recorded by deputies during investigation of the incident. “Deep fake” implies that the original image was replaced with something else. She emailed the photos to many organizations and agencies.
Even after sentencing, Stutzman continues to send emails disputing her court case.
“Judge publicly attacked parenting the day of an arrest,” Stutzman wrote Sunday. “His very court issued guardianship papers roughly six months later. Children were not around. They came to my home in late
February of 2020. Judge knew this or should have due to his own court/the prosecutor issuing those papers.”
On the same day Stutzman was sentenced, Cornwell filed an appeal of her sentence.
Stutzman will remain on the state’s list of violent offenders 15 years.