May 10, 2012
By Glenn Barr, Reporter

A 47-year-old Running Springs man has pleaded guilty to a felony charge of elder abuse in a case involving allegations that his drunken rage at his mother’s home caused her to suffer chest pains.
Joel Curtis Eastwood entered the plea on May 2 before Judge Kenneth R. Barr during a scheduled disposition hearing. Eastwood’s sentencing was scheduled for June 19.
After signing a promise to appear for sentencing, Eastwood was released on his own recognizance, court records say. He had been in custody at West Valley Detention Center on $150,000 bail.
According to the minute order—the online summary of the court proceedings—Judge Barr referred Eastwood’s case to the county’s Probation Department for a report.
A sheriff’s report issued at the time of Eastwood’s March 2 arrest said he went on a drunken rage at his mother’s home and, in the words of Sheriff’s Capt. Rick Ells, “was tearing up the place.”
Deputies said Eastwood’s mother, who had recently undergone heart surgery, experienced chest pains as a result of his rampage.
“While the conduct in this case was reprehensible and abusive, it was not assaultive, and no actual great bodily injury was inflicted, luckily for the victim and family,” said Christopher Lee, spokesman for the district attorney’s office. “There were no actual injuries, just endangerment.”
Lee said Eastwood is eligible for a state prison commitment if he violates any probation terms in the future. He served nearly a year for an assault conviction in 2011, Lee said.
Court records show Eastwood has a troubled past, having pleaded guilty six times to misdemeanor charges of public drunkenness between 2001 and 2010. He was also placed on probation for three years and sent to jail for 30 days in 2000 for felony hit-and-run with injury, and last year was sentenced to another 36 months’ probation for felony assault with a deadly weapon.

 SOURCE:     The Mountain News
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