Man pleads guilty to weapons charge

PROVO — A man who gained notoriety for being shot three times by a former police officer pleaded guilty Monday to a weapons charge.

Craig Trimble, 36, pleaded guilty in 4th District Court to a class A misdemeanor of possession of a weapon by a restricted person.

Trimble was arrested in February after the Utah County Major Crimes Task Force said they found underage kids using marijuana, alcohol and steroids at Trimble's girlfriend's house. The task force was conducting a search of the home.

Task force officers said they also found a 4-inch-blade buck knife, which was illegal for Trimble to have in his possession because Trimble was on parole.

Trimble was injured by ex-Lehi officer Art Henderson in January 2006 after Henderson chased Trimble and Henderson's ex-wife, Natalie Barnes Henderson, Trimble's girlfriend, through Lehi neighborhoods.

Trimble, who said the knife was for fishing, agreed to plead guilty in a plea deal. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

He will be sentenced Aug. 27.

Trimble is considered a restricted person because he was on parole from the Utah State Prison for cases involving possession of a weapon by a restricted person and possession of a controlled substance from 2001 and 2002, respectively.

His parole was scheduled to end one week after he was arrested, he told Judge Claudia Laycock in court.

It's unknown what punishment he'll face through the Department of Corrections or if officials will simply let the 4th District Court sentence take over, said his court-appointed attorney Gunda Jarvis.

After Henderson shot Trimble, Henderson was stopped by Lehi police and taken down with a shot to the leg.

He was arrested and charged with five counts of attempted aggravated murder, three counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm and one charge each of aggravated assault and criminal mischief.

Henderson hanged himself in his Salt Lake County Metro Jail cell last April.

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