Photo: Dakota Woodward
A 19-year-old Gainesville man was escorted out of the courtroom by Ozark County deputies, after spewing obscenities at Circuit Judge Craig Carter and Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney John Garrabrant, during a session of Ozark County Law Day earlier this month.
The Ozark County Times reports Dakota Woodward, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and wearing handcuffs and leg shackles, walked to the courtroom’s podium before Carter.
When Carter asked what was happening in Woodward’s case, Garrabrant told the judge Woodward had been arrested the night before. He was held in jail on a warrant to appear in court for a probation violation hearing in a case in which he had pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance in October 2018.
Garrabrant said Woodward had appeared for a prior probation violation citation on Aug. 29, and he had been ordered to complete drug court. Garrabrant told the judge Woodward failed to report for drug court after that hearing.
Woodward shouted at Garrabrant, “Where’s the proof? Where’s the proof, [expletive]?”
Carter told Woodward, “Sir, you probably shouldn’t talk like that in here.”
Woodward then shouted at the judge, “Or what?” A string of expletives followed.
The teen continued to shout obscenities as an Ozark County jailer escorted him out of the courtroom.
Woodward is scheduled to reappear for the probation violation hearing Dec. 4. He remains in custody in the Ozark County Jail.
In May 2018, a laundry list of charges were filed against Woodward.
According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol online arrest report, Woodward was arrested in Ozark County and charged with felony possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, and felony resisting arrest by fleeing. In addition, he was charged with failure to display valid plates, failure to stop at stop sign, exceeding the posted speed limit, operating a motor vehicle on a highway without valid license, no insurance, open title, and failure to yield for law enforcement. Additional charges include displaying plates of another vehicle, failure to drive on the right side of the roadway, operating a vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner, no seatbelt and driving while intoxicated.
No details surrounding the arrest were made available.
In contrast to Woodward’s loud, profane behavior, another defendant, Kerry McKee, appeared in court for an old case he had been working toward completing.
Judge Carter confirmed McKee had completed all conditions in his case and told him to talk to Probation and Parole Officer Craig Cronister to finalize the case details. McKee then stepped over to Cronister and kissed him on the face.
Cronister stepped outside the courtroom with McKee to discuss his case and then returned to the courtroom.
“Well, that was a first,” he said.
Details on McKee’s case were not available.
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