Ryan Joel Anderson of rural Mountain Home, who faces charges stemming from a violent domestic disturbance in late June, was in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday asking an order preventing him from contacting the victim in the case be lifted to allow him to participate in the birth of the couple’s child.
He was only partially successful.
The 21-year-old Anderson was arrested June 29th after a Baxter County Deputy responded to a reported domestic disturbance at a residence along County Road 28. The deputy was met outside in the yard by the female victim who told the deputy that Anderson — identified as her boyfriend — had thrown a cherry flavored slushy-type drink on her and punched her in the nose.
The victim said the fight started when she got home from work and Anderson began yelling at her. She said Anderson took her phone away from her and threw it across the room when she attempted to call for help.
She alleged Anderson had been violent with her in the past, but she had not reported the incidents. At the time of the incident in June, the girlfriend was reported to be almost four months pregnant. She was examined at Baxter Regional Medical Center. She is alleged to have told hospital personnel she was hit in the stomach, and Anderson knew she was pregnant at the time.
Anderson told the responding deputy a different story. He said his girlfriend was lying about the incident. He alleged he had been out that day looking for a job, and when his girlfriend came home from her work, she began throwing food at him and yelling at him for not being employed. Anderson said his girlfriend had scratched his eye and neck during the fracas.
While Anderson asked the no contact order be lifted, the state objected to the total removal of the order due to the violent nature of the crime, and Judge Gordon Webb agreed. He said he was not inclined to grant Anderson’s request. The judge said, “We want to know that a woman in that condition is being protected”. He did lift the order to the extent Anderson could visit with his child only at the hospital after its birth and with others present.
A woman in the courtroom was identified as the victim in the case and was also referred to as Anderson’s fiancé. At one point, she began crying and was taken out of the room. It was reported, although not confirmed, she had gone into labor.
Any pre-trial motions filed in Anderson’s case are now scheduled to be heard in mid-November. He remains free on $5,000 bond.
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