Receives an additional 3 years on IPS upon release for failure to appear
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – You can run, and you can hide, but in the end, you’ll end up with more time.
That’s the mantra of the Graham County Attorney’s Office for those avoiding responsibility for their crimes.
After initially dodging justice, Henry Joseph Boswell, 26, eventually faced the music and pleaded guilty to possession of a dangerous drug (methamphetamine) – a class-4 felony, resisting arrest – a class-6 felony, and aggravated DUI-drug. The charges stem from an incident on May 5, 2024. Boswell had already been convicted of aggravated DUI in 2021. He had an additional charge of failure to appear for a court date on Jan. 28.
On Tuesday, Boswell informed Graham County Judge Travis W. Ragland that he was ready to attend to his business.
In following the plea agreement, Judge Ragland sentenced Boswell to 3.5 years for possession of a dangerous drug and 3.5 years for his second aggravated DUI-drug, as well as 1.5 years on his charge of resisting arrest. The counts will all run concurrently, meaning Boswell is only sentenced to 3.5 years in prison.
However, upon his release, he will be placed on intensive supervised probation for three years on his failure to appear charge, and his original probation from his previous charge will be elevated to intensive supervised probation as well and be extended by 235 days.
“Please realize that when you get out of DOC, any problems that you might have regarding substances are not going to have magically disappeared,” Judge Ragland said. “So you may need to get into treatment when you get out, whether that’s IOP, aftercare, NA, you know, whatever that needs to be. Make sure that you do that. Make sure that when you get out, you report to probation immediately. If you don’t, they’re going to file a petition to revoke, and we’re going to be sitting right back here. As a term of probation when you do get back here, show up, do your best, be honest. If you do those three things, probation will work with you. It’s in their best interest for you to be successful. So, they will help you to be successful if you do those three things. If you don’t do those three things, they’re going to file a petition to revoke, and we’ll be back here looking to go to jail or prison. Please take it seriously. There’s no reason that you can’t be successful on probation. So there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to get out, come back, and go back to your family and be successful.”
