| Watch Video Above for Extended Coverage |
The Probation Department recommended prison time for /*Dubois*/ after their officers discovered about 80 rounds of ammunition at Dubois' home in September. But the judge wanted to make sure Dubois is subject to supervision for as long as possible, and the best way to do that was to let him out of jail.
Dubois pleaded no contest in January to being a felon in possession of ammunition, and to violating probation on his conviction from last year. That's when he pleaded no contest to leaving a firearm where the five children in his home could access them.
Less than two months after a judge sentenced Dubois to probation in that case, probation officers found ammunition scattered around the garage of the home where Dubois and his family moved after his first conviction. Dubois said he didn't know the ammunition was there, but his attorney says he's accepting responsibility for the second mistake. He says Dubois has already been punished enough by spending the last five months in the Fresno County Jail.
Corin Hoggard:"Can he go home and accept responsibility for his entire house where he lives?"
Dubois' defense attorney Mark Coleman, "Yes. He certainly can. I mean, my god, this is a man who loved his stepdaughter. She's gone. He lives with that every day. You have to add to it that it was an effort day to day to get through life, to get out of bed, and act normal for the remaining kids."
The judge could have sentenced Dubois to as long as three years in prison, but that sentence would've meant Dubois could be released at any time without supervision. Judge Jonathan Conklin wanted to make sure Dubois is supervised, so he decided to let him out of jail and put him on probation for the next three years.
