A Lakeview man who was charged in Baxter County with shooting at imaginary people he believed were out to kill him and hitting a neighbor’s house in the process has decided to represent himself at his upcoming trial. He indicated he wanted to do so despite a warning from Baxter County Circuit Judge John Putman that he was making a major mistake.Forty-six-year-old David Tiskus is charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of criminal mischief stemming from the shooting incident in late April last year. In addition, new charges may be filed against him for attacking a Baxter County Detention Center staff member on Wednesday, after he had been brought from prison to the jail to be available for his Thursday court appearance.
In the shooting incident, Baxter County deputies responded to a residence along County Road 276, after a neighbor reported shots had been fired from Tiskus’ house, and bullets had hit the nearby residence.
The neighbor told investigators he heard Tiskus and a woman yelling at each other, followed by the sound of gunshots. He said a bullet hit his house in the area of his daughter’s bedroom. The man said he went into the house and got the daughter out of the room.
When the deputies made contact with Tiskus, he warned them he could see a man standing between him and the deputies. Tiskus said the man was out to kill him.
A woman living in the home, identified as Tiskus’ girlfriend, said he had been using methamphetamine heavily for several days prior to the shooting incident. She said when the drug was mixed with his existing psychological problems, they made a volatile combination.
Tiskus is serving an 18-year prison sentence. He was convicted of a number of crimes by an Independence County jury in May. He is an inmate in the Pine Bluff Unit of the state prison system.
During his appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday, Tiskus said he would represent himself in his upcoming trial and wanted a jury to hear his case. Judge Putman asked him if he felt qualified to pick the jury and he said, “I think I can handle it.”
Tiskus referred to his white state prison uniform as “his personal clothes,” which he said his mother had brought to him. He asked several times if he could go home after the court session, but Judge Putman told him he would be going back to jail. He said he didn’t understand why he was being held since “we are only dealing with misdemeanors.” Judge Putman said the charges Tiskus faces are not misdemeanors, but very serious felonies.
When Tiskus was brought from prison to the Baxter County jail, he made it clear he did not want to be there and wanted to be returned to prison. He became more and more argumentative as the booking process went on. When a jail corporal told him to stand so he could be placed in handcuffs, it was reported he “jumped to his feet” and became increasingly combative.
At one point, Tiskus is alleged to have tried to choke the jailer and stuck his right thumb in the corner of the jailer’s left eye and attempted to gouge the eye out. Tiskus then pulled off the jailer’s lapel microphone and began striking the left side of the corporal’s head causing the upper part of his ear to bleed.
Another jail staffer used a stun gun on Tiskus. The staff members were able to get handcuffs on the Lakeview man.
Once Tiskus was placed in a cell, he was involved in no further incidents.
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