A 21-year-old Mountain Home man now faces both new and refiled charges for fighting with the same victim who was responsible for having his original battery case dismissed.
Prosecutors have now refiled the original second-degree domestic battery and interference with emergency communications charges against Ryan Joel Anderson and have added new charges of third- degree domestic battery and an additional count of interference with emergency communications.
Anderson was arraigned on both new and refiled charges during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday. He entered a not guilty plea.
Anderson was initially arrested and charged with domestic battery related to a violent confrontation with his then pregnant live-in girlfriend, 21-year-old Joey Lewin. The altercation happened in late June last year at the residence the couple shared along County Road 28.
At the time, Lewin told a Baxter County deputy the fight had started when she got home from work, and Anderson began yelling at her. She said he had pushed her, punched her in the nose and took her cell phone so she could not call for help.
According to court records, Lewin was reported to be almost four months pregnant at the time. She was checked at Baxter Regional Medical Center and is alleged to have told hospital personnel Anderson had hit her in the stomach knowing she was pregnant.
Anderson had a different story. He said it was Lewin who was the aggressor. He told the responding deputy when she came home, she began throwing food at him and yelling at him for not having a job. Anderson said his girlfriend had scratched his eye and neck during the fracas.
Almost from the beginning of the original case, Lewin made it clear she wanted the charges dropped. She was required to appear during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court in January to explain why she did not want the case prosecuted.
Lewin had filed for an order of protection to keep Anderson away from her shortly after the original fight was reported, but asked the action be dropped only days after it was filed.
During her court appearance in January, she told Circuit Judge Gordon Webb the fight was “just something that got out of hand” and was “a one-time event” brought on by the financial stress the couple was under.
Prosecutors objected to the dismissal, saying they were concerned Anderson would repeat his actions. Judge Webb reluctantly approved the dismissal. He wrote in his case notes he agreed with the state’s position, but was approving the request because of Lewin’s testimony and in particular her contention the event was not a common occurrence.
According to the probable cause affidavit written at the time of the original altercation, Lewin is reported to have told officers Anderson had been violent with her in the past, but she had not reported the prior events.
In making his dismissal ruling, Judge Webb told Lewin and Anderson by granting the request to dismiss, he was in no way condoning Anderson’s actions. He warned Anderson “this must never happen again.”
It did happen again, however.
In the recent case of domestic violence, a Baxter County deputy was dispatched to the residence shared by Anderson and Lewin on April 13th. The deputy made contact with the couple outside the residence.
The deputy reported when he arrived on the scene, Anderson and Lewin began arguing about what had taken place and why law enforcement had been called. The deputy interviewed Anderson and Lewin separately. Lewin told him she had confronted Anderson about him texting another woman. She said Anderson hit her in the mouth and began shoving her. She said the couple had been having problems “for the last few days.”
Anderson said the argument had been triggered by the fact Lewin and her parents had not been willing to give him rides to fill out job applications. He said the incident escalated, leading Lewin to call the Sheriff’s Office and to make accusations as to what he had done.
He said he grabbed the phone and told the dispatcher there had been drug activity at the residence. Anderson said he had found smoking pipes in a dresser drawer but laid them down to take the phone away from Lewin and, at that point, Lewin’s mother had taken the pipes and hid them.
Judge Webb denied a request by the defense to have Anderson’s $25,000 bond lowered. The state objected to any bond reduction. In addition, Judge Webb ordered Anderson to have no contact with Lewin.
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