The last man in a group of four accused of tying up and torturing their housemate in Jefferson County in 2024 was convicted last month on assault charges, court records show.
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After a five-day trial in late August, a Jefferson County jury convicted Jason Edward Carlson on charges of first-degree assault by strangulation, first-degree assault with a deadly weapon, second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and felony menacing, according to court records. Four violent crime sentence enhancers accompanied the convictions.
That jury acquitted Carlson on additional charges of attempted first-degree murder, attempted first-degree assault, second-degree kidnapping and third-degree assault, court records show.
Carlson and three other men — Jimmy Ray Smith, Sherell Cortez Allen and Luke Leonard Anaya — were arrested in September 2024 after their housemate showed up at a nearby hospital.
That man, who medical staff said had injuries consistent with being tied up, beaten, burned and whipped, told investigators that the group broke into his room at a home in the 4700 block of South Oak Court and tortured him for 14 hours, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. An uninvolved person in the house helped him escape, investigators said.
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Smith was sentenced to 32 years in prison in May, after a jury found him guilty of attempted murder, assault and kidnapping. Anaya took a deal and pleaded guilty last year to second-degree assault and felony menacing, and was sentenced in June 2025 to 12 years in prison.
Allen’s jury acquitted him of most charges in a March trial, convicting him only of false imprisonment, a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail, according to court records.
Carlson is set to be sentenced on Oct. 2, according to Jefferson County court records.
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