Assault suspect to be arraigned on July 5

A Moab man accused of seriously injuring a local woman during an alleged June 14 assault is set to be arraigned in Seventh District Court next week.

The Grand County Attorney’s Office has charged 24-year-old Beau Christian Denison with second-degree felony aggravated assault, based on allegations that he attacked the woman and broke bones in her face.

Denison, whose arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday, July 5, previously waived his right to a preliminary hearing during a brief appearance in court on Tuesday, June 21. He remains in custody on a $10,000 cash-only bond.

The Moab City Police Department said that a report on the incident remains sealed because its investigation into the case is ongoing. Court records do not offer any specific details about the case, either.

But Grand County Attorney Andrew Fitzgerald told Seventh District Judge Lyle R. Anderson last week that Dension injured the woman to the point that emergency responders transported her elsewhere for medical care.

“The victim had some broken bones in her face and had to be taken to the hospital in Grand Junction, (Colorado), so quite serious injuries,” he said on June 21.

Fitzgerald urged the judge to impose a higher, cash-only bond amount, considering the extent of the woman’s injuries, and the trauma that she continues to experience.

“I spoke to her on the phone right before court, and she’s quite afraid,” he said.

Fitzgerald told the court that Denison was previously involved in a 2014 assault, although he admitted that he wasn’t sure of the resolution in that case.

“He does have some (criminal) history, I believe, judge,” he said.

But Grand County Public Defender Don Torgerson said that Denison doesn’t have any previous felony convictions on his record.

“His history, your honor, is just misdemeanor stuff,” he said.

Torgerson called the $10,000 cash-only figure “excessive in this case,” and asked Judge Anderson to set the bond amount at $2,000 – a request that the judge ultimately denied.

Denison, who filed an affidavit of indigency, claimed that he earned just $500 to $600 last year.

His Facebook page says that he’s self-employed and skilled in the professions of “freestyle rapping” and “hustling.” But he told the court that he’s been working side jobs “under the table” while he lives with someone he considers to be his mother.

“It just depends on how much I work (and) how much I want to make,” he said.

Under the law, Denison is presumed to be innocent unless or until he is convicted in a court of law.

The victim had some broken bones in her face and had to be taken to the hospital in Grand Junction, so quite serious injuries.

Beau Denison accused of seriously injuring woman