Bond reduction denied for MH man charged with battery, resisting arrest

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Photo: Joel Preston Fuller

A man charged with choking another male with an electrical cord appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.

Thirty-two-year-old Joel Preston Fuller of Mountain Home entered a not guilty plea to the charges against him.

Fuller told Circuit Judge Gordon Webb he would plead guilty, if he could be assured of receiving probation. Judge Webb said it was his practice not to take guilty pleas on first appearance, and Fuller needed to discuss any plea with his lawyer, not the court.

Fuller then asked to have his $15,000 bond lowered, but was turned down. Judge Webb said the bond seemed appropriate for a crime of violence.

Events leading to Fuller’s arrest began when Baxter County deputies were called to a home along Buzzard Roost Road about 10:30 p.m. June 8, where two males were reportedly fighting.

A female at the residence told the deputies the fight was underway in the back bedroom. As deputies approached, Fuller is alleged to have run out of that room, ducked into another bedroom and shut the door.

The deputies reported seeing the victim on the floor of the room from which Fuller had fled. The victim was reported to have been gasping for air. According to the probable cause affidavit, the victim also had a number of marks on his body and was bleeding from wounds to his facial area.

One of the deputies found Fuller lying on a bed and told him to get up. He is reported to have screamed at the deputy to get the victim out of his house. Fuller was said to have been heavily intoxicated.

The female reported Fuller had been drinking spiced rum, which has a very high alcohol content, that day. She said Fuller was the aggressor, and the fight was sparked because he thought the victim and the woman were having a physical relationship.

She said the victim had gone to his bedroom to get away from Fuller, but Fuller had punched a hole in the door. When he entered the room, the woman said, he started hitting the victim and then wrapped the electrical cord from a fan around the man’s neck.

Fuller resisted being taken into custody and had to be dragged out of the house. He was taken to the Baxter County Detention Center where he continued to act out, causing jail staff to employ a stun gun to bring him under control.

The victim was taken by ambulance to Baxter Regional Medical Center. He was reported to have suffered a concussion and a broken rib.

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