Balfour sentenced to prison on firearm charge

NEBRASKA CITY – An Otoe County judge revoked a probation term for 54-year-old David Balfour of Nebraska City and sentenced him to prison for an attempted firearms violation.

Balfour was placed on three years of probation for attempted delivery in 2021. He was arrested in that case after a sheriff’s deputy made a Third Rue traffic stop and found 4.6 grams of meth.

Balfour was sentenced Monday to five to 11 years in prison for attempted possession of a firearm. Public Defender Michael Ziskey said the .22 caliber rifle was rusty and inoperable. The affidavit from the February 2024 arrest was sealed by the court.

Ziskey said Balfour has successfully completed probation in the past and has never been sentenced to prison.

Ziskey: “I don’t think the facts of this case warrant that sort of sentence.” He asked for a year in county jail.

At sentencing, Judge Julie Smith noted that Balfour was on probation at the time of the February arrest and said he did not meet with a probation officer to complete a pre-sentence investigation.

Balfour will be eligible for parole in 2.5 years.

In Richardson County court cases,  Charles Speth, 35, of Humboldt was sentenced to 18 months of probation for assault on March 5.

A Richardson County Sheriff’s Office affidavit says deputies were dispatched to a Grand Avenue residence in Humboldt where a woman reported injury during an argument.

 Michael Versnel Jr., 46, of Wichita, Kan., was sentenced to two years probation for possession in August of 2024.

A sheriff’s deputy told the court he made a Highway 75 traffic stop and a K9 alerted to narcotics. The deputy’s affidavit says methamphetamine was found. Versnel had served a prison sentence beginning in 2003.