Sun, Jul 05 2009
|
|
Published August 20, 2008 10:55 pm - The Jasper County prosecutor’s office managed to get a felony domestic-assault case bound over for trial Wednesday despite the alleged victim’s unwillingness to testify against her husband. Judge skeptical of woman’s testimony in assault case By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com The Jasper County prosecutor’s office managed to get a felony domestic-assault case bound over for trial Wednesday despite the alleged victim’s unwillingness to testify against her husband. Angela Brown was subpoenaed to be a witness at the preliminary hearing on the charge against her husband, Richard E. Brown, 47, of Joplin. Richard Brown is charged with second-degree domestic assault. He is accused of punching his wife in the face and breaking her nose on May 8. But Angela Brown testified at the hearing that her husband only accidentally hit her in the nose with his elbow in the course of an argument at their home with a male friend from Tulsa, Okla. Under questioning by Assistant Prosecutor Leah Clubb, she acknowledged being a reluctant witness and having filled out a form to get the charge dropped. She told the court that she still lives with her husband and loves him, and that he has apologized for hurting her on the night in question and is taking anger-management classes. Clubb had called Joplin police Officer Sam Scott as a witness before Angela Brown. Scott told the court that he responded to a domestic-disturbance call at the couple’s apartment at 1505 S. Michigan Ave. Scott said that when he arrived, he found a table overturned in their kitchen and other reasons to believe there had been an argument. “They both calmed down, agreed to go to bed, and I left the apartment,” Scott told the court. He said that as he returned to his patrol car parked on Michigan Avenue, he could hear the sounds of an argument resuming inside the apartment. He returned to the apartment door and found it locked, Scott said. He said he stood outside the apartment and waited to see if he heard anything that would give him cause to force entry to the home. Scott said two juveniles soon came running out of an adjacent apartment building, and one of them exclaimed: “He’s hitting her. He broke her nose.” Scott said that at about the same time, he heard a woman inside the apartment say, “I’m bleeding.” The officer testified that he then forced entry and found Angela Brown inside with an injury to her face. Clubb introduced photographs that Scott took of suspected injuries to Angela Brown and of the state of the apartment that he discovered upon re-entry. On cross-examination by public defender Brett Meeker, Scott said he was able to hear the argument resume because some windows were open. He said one of the juveniles who emerged from the adjacent building proved to be Angela Brown’s son, who told him that he had received a telephone call from her telling him that her husband had broken her nose. But Angela Brown insisted on the witness stand after the officer’s testimony that it had been an accidental blow and not a punch. “All I can recall telling the officer is that he broke my nose,” she said. Meeker asked Associate Judge Richard Copeland to dismiss the case at the conclusion of testimony. She argued that Angela Brown obviously did not wish to press the charge, that the state’s case lacked evidence of an intentional blow, and that the defendant already has sought help in anger management. 
•
Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.
More from the Local News section
Discontent brews at 'tea party' Area communities celebrate holiday with food, music and fireworks |
Print this story
E-mail this story
Post to del.icio.us
Discuss this story
 |
 |
    : Special Offer For New Subscribers :   
|
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
 |
|
|
Published by Newspaper Holding, Inc. 117 East Fourth Street, Joplin, MO 64801 Using our site is your agreement to the terms and conditions. News: news@joplinglobe.com • (417)623-3480 Advertise with the Joplin Globe Copyright © 2006 The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO All rights reserved. 
|
Popular Business directory links - Joplin Apartments | Joplin Attorneys | Joplin Auto Dealers | Joplin Auto Parts | Joplin Auto Repair | Joplin Beauty Salons | Joplin Car Rental | Joplin Dentists | Joplin Doctors | Joplin Flowers | Joplin Hotels | Joplin Insurance | Joplin Loans | Joplin Mortgages | Joplin Movers | Joplin Pizza | Joplin Realtors | Joplin Restaurants | Joplin Storage | Joplin Tax Preparation | Joplin Travel | Joplin Featured | More...
|
|
Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI Classified Advertising Network • CNHI News Service |
