A domestic violence victim made another appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday in her effort to have charges against her boyfriend dropped.She was partially successful.
Twenty-four-year-old Justin Rogers of Mountain Home is accused of holding the victim against her will, beating, choking and threatening her with a knife.
Roger’s attorney — Matt Stone — told Circuit Judge Gordon Webb the victim, who was in the courtroom, would testify if the court chose. Fourteenth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge was quick to tell the judge the state strongly objected to a dismissal. “This case scares me. It’s that bad,” Ethredge said.
The prosecutor said Rogers had choked the victim until she passed out and threatened to kill the couple’s unborn baby by stabbing the victim with a butcher’s knife.
Ethredge said if the victim would offer sworn testimony on her request to drop the charges, and if the testimony convinced the court to drop them, the state would abide by the decision “even though we don’t like it.”
The victim appeared before the court in March to request a no contact order be lifted so she and the man charged with attacking her could reunite. Judge Webb turned down the March request.
It was renewed in late May, and the judge did lift the no contact order at that point.
Rogers’ attorney said his client and the client’s victim have had “a good couple of months” since the no contact order was lifted and were making improvements in their lives. He said they planned to be married in October.
Judge Webb read a statement prepared by the victim and the probable cause affidavit in the case before turning down the request to dismiss. “It is extremely difficult for the court to ignore the facts in the affidavit,” Judge Webb said. He said he would have a “very hard time dismissing the case” given that the facts in the affidavit came from the victim herself.
The judge termed the case “about as serious” as a case of domestic violence can get. He said not only was the victim in danger but the safety of her children who were at Rogers’ home the night of the attack was also jeopardized.
Stone asked if the judge would consider continuing the case to see if the couple “continued to get along.” The case was continued until November.
Ethredge requested the judge to order Rogers to take a drug test on Friday following the Thursday court session. He said the state “would like to see if he’s using, as we do with so many other people.” Stone objected saying testing was “punitive” but then said his client was agreeing to take the test.
The incident leading to Rogers’ charges came to light in early October last year when the victim approached a Baxter County deputy sheriff on routine patrol just after 2 a.m. The victim told the deputy she and her children had been at Rogers’ home when he is alleged to have become agitated and shoved her against a wall.
She said while she was packing her belongings in an attempt to leave the house, Rogers had gone into the kitchen and came out carrying a large butcher’s knife. She reported Rogers as threatening to kill the couple’s unborn baby by stabbing her.
At one point during the altercation, Rogers was alleged to have followed the victim into the bedroom, grabbed her by the throat, punched her in the face and took her cellphone. He was said to have threatened, “You are going to die tonight.”
The woman said Rogers attempted to apologize for the incident, but she told him she was leaving. Rogers was alleged to have prevented her from exiting the bedroom. She waited for him to fall asleep, slipped out with her children, saw the deputy and reported what had happened.
Rogers is charged with aggravated assault on a family member, second-degree domestic battery, first-degree false imprisonment and interfering with an emergency communications device.
Judge Webb ordered the parties to reappear in circuit court Nov. 14.
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