The only Republican candidate for House District 21, Karl Dent, was found guilty Wednesday of violating a civil protection order restraining him from having contact with a former girlfriend. 

The jury of six found Dent not guilty of violating a criminal protection order based on the same incident. 

The civil protection order prevents Dent from being within 100 yards of his former girlfriend while the criminal protection order does not have the same requirement, probably accounting for the jury’s decision, Deputy District Attorney Rebekah Long said. 

El Paso County Republican embroiled in domestic violence, animal cruelty legal battles asked to step aside

During the one-day trial, Dent’s girlfriend testified that Dent approached her car last January in a parking lot at Sierra High School and banged on the window in an attempt to speak with her in violation of the civil and criminal orders to have no contact with her. She said it was not the first violation. 

The interaction scared her, and she asked her friend who she was talking with on the phone, to call the police. She said she felt trapped in the vehicle and unable to get to her son, who she was picking up from football practice.

“I was in a panic,” she said. She was also on the phone and so did not take video or photos of the event, she said.

She did speak with police at the time and told Dent through the window that police were on their way, at which point she said he left in a hurry. Colorado Springs police officers testified that when they arrived, she was visibly upset. One of the officers said other people in the parking lot did not see an exchange between the two.  

Defense attorney Daniel Layshock showed surveillance video of Dent’s car pulling into the high school parking lot and pointed out that no one is visible getting into or out of the car. The car was on the far side of the frame and the woman’s car was not visible in the video. 

El Paso County sheriff’s candidate decides to ‘step away gracefully,’ files for state House seat instead

Layshock said the video showed Dent did not intentionally come over to the woman’s car after noticing her; rather, that he left as soon as he saw her. The two both have students attending the school. 

“The first thing he does is come into compliance with the protection order,” Layshock said. 

Dent said in an emailed statement following the trial he intends to respect the protection orders going forward. 

“My understanding of the protection orders were to stay 100 yards away from the protective party. It appears the jury thought that included the parking of Sierra High School when I was picking up my son from football practice,” he wrote. 

Dent was scheduled for sentencing in April in the misdemeanor case.

The former military police officer and private security company owner is serving two years probation for felony trespassing related to a domestic violence incident involving the same woman. He is appealing that conviction because the court missed his deadline for a speedy trial, he said.

El Paso County sheriff’s race narrows; slew of new faces in state races following assemblies

He also is involved in an animal cruelty case involving his own dogs getting into a fight in his backyard, he said, in an earlier interview.

Dent is the only Republican who made the June primary ballot for the House District 21 seat in south El Paso County. The incumbent Mary Bradfield did not garner the 30% of the vote at assembly necessary to make the ballot and did not submit petitions. 

If elected, he would be allowed to hold his seat while serving probation in the felony case, the Secretary of State’s Office said.