Caleb Lee Duerr, 40, of Johnsville, was sentenced Nov. 3 to 11 years in state prison.
Although Duerr had no previous criminal history and had served in the military, visiting Superior Court Judge Scott Millington found Duerr’s crimes particularly “heinous.” He ordered him to serve the middle term of three years for domestic violence, an additional four years for committing great bodily injury during the commission of domestic violence, and the middle term of four years for his conviction for forcible escape.
A Plumas County jury convicted Duerr Oct. 8 on felony domestic violence with great bodily injury, misdemeanor false imprisonment and felony escape by force. The charges stemmed from two separate incidents.
Millington found the crimes of felony criminal threats and misdemeanor false imprisonment to be part of the domestic violence crime and ordered each sentence stayed. Duerr was given credit for a total of 607 days in jail already served.
The court noted Duerr’s conduct credits are limited to 15% due to his conviction of a violent felony. The hour-long sentencing hearing included a statement read by the victim and arguments from the Plumas County District Attorney’s Office and Duerr’s attorney.
Duerr was arrested Dec. 19, 2023, after his wife reported that he attacked her, inflicting injuries “literally from her head to her toes,” according to the Plumas County District Attorney’s Office. Nine months later, Sept. 27, 2024, Duerr escaped from the former Plumas County jail by using different available instruments to damage and create holes in two metal fences. He was arrested Oct. 17, 2024, after a multiagency special weapons and tactics team surrounded his Johnsville home and took him into custody without incident.
Duerr will be transported to a reception center with the California Department of Corrections and placed in an appropriate prison to serve the remainder of his sentence, said Plumas County District Attorney David Hollister.
