MONTROSE - Tyson Quarles agreed Monday to spend up to 14 years in prison for second-degree assault on a peace officer and a single count of felony-5 menacing for his Oct. 15, 2004 attack on Montrose Police Sgt. Rick LaPena. Though numerous other felony charges, including first-degree assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon, were dropped as part of his plea agreement, a local minister said 14 years in the Department of Corrections was no sort of justice.

"From talking to Tyson and from media (reports), what happened looks like more of a suicide attempt on his part. ŠAs a community, we can have a better response than a 14-year prison sentence," Jonathan Miles, pastor at the Montrose First Baptist Church, said outside of court. Miles first tried to speak on Quarles' behalf during proceedings, but court rules did not allow it.

"This is the first time I've tried to speak up in a legal situation," he said. "I just had a sense that we were failing him as a community."

Miles had met Quarles through prison ministry work, as had Joel Kleeves, who is involved in a jail bible study program. Both men said Quarles' problems were the result of methamphetamine addiction and despair.

"When he had this problem, he was under the influence of meth," said Kleeves. "That says a lot to me."

Quarles, 24, was arrested last year after leading police and sheriff's officers on a vehicle and foot chase after they tried to arrest him on outstanding warrants, including one from Montana.

When cornered in a field behind Russell Stover's Candies, Quarles is said to have brandished a knife and stated: "I'm not going back to prison." Quarles reportedly asked officers if they would shoot him if he were to stab one of them.

When he cut at his own throat, police said they fired a Taser to stop him, but the device misfired and Quarles ran toward LaPena, stabbing him in the stomach area. LaPena's body armor slowed the blade and though he had the wind knocked out of him, he wasn't seriously injured.

In court Monday, Quarles told Judge Dennis Friedrich he hadn't seen the body armor and the blood on it, even though he was entitled to see all evidence against him.

"It's not a big deal," he said, to which Friedrich replied: "It is to me" and demanded an explanation from attorneys.

Public defender Harvey Palefsky said the vest had gone to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, but the tests weren't back yet. Further, that piece of evidence had to do with the charge of first-degree assault on a peace officer, which was dismissed under plea agreement.

Quarles also said he took medication "to make me happy," yet wasn't taking any currently. But he also said the lack of medication did not interfere with his ability to understand proceedings.

Miles called these revelations "red flags" and said he didn't feel Quarles understood the sentencing process. He also said Quarles was a better candidate for Community Corrections and drug treatment than for prison, a place where he feared for his life.

Montrose Police Cmdr. Gene Lillard agreed Quarles hadn't wanted to return to prison.

"He felt that was a death sentence, if he was sent back to prison," Lillard told the Daily Press.

Nonetheless, he added, Quarles could've killed LaPena, who with other officers, was only trying to keep him from hurting himself.

"I think that's something that should've been taken into consideration," he said. "They could've used lethal force right off the bat, but they were trying to save his life."

Miles said Quarles, who'd grown up in foster care, may have attacked LaPena out of despair, not in an attempt to kill him. "He said he had nothing to live for anymore," Miles said, telling of Quarles' hopes of attending college and getting married - hopes made faint by the 14-year sentence.

"He felt he was pretty much (left with) no choice, that no one would advocate for him," Miles said of the decision to plead guilty.

He'd hoped to work with the court to get Quarles into a drug treatment program that could have the potential of rehabilitating him.

"From my Christian faith, we can never give up on that hope for anyone."

Quarles will serve 14 years on the assault plea and three years on the menacing plea concurrently, so that his total prison time is 14 years. Mandatory parole - three years on the first count and two on the second - will follow and will also be completed concurrently.

Quarles also agreed to be extradited to Montana, where Palefsky said he'd been given a 10-year sentence for robbery, with five suspended. Because he violated the conditions of the suspension, he must serve those five years. Montana agreed to allow him to do so concurrent with his 14-year sentence here, but he must first go to Montana to take care of the warrant that state issued.

Formal sentencing is at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 3.

Lillard said the possible14-year sentence had its merits. "He attempted to cause bodily harm to a police officer by stabbing him. Our people were there to help him and tried to do it in a peaceful way. He took that step where he endangered several police officers' lives."