Photo: Dawn Louise Rowland
A rural Mountain Home woman who was arrested after an alcohol-fueled attack on a man identified as her boyfriend pled guilty during a video session of Baxter County Court Wednesday. She was sentenced to 10 years probation on the charges against her.
Forty-four-year-old Dawn Louise Rowland was charged with felony domestic battery and two misdemeanors – resisting arrest and obstructing governmental operations.
The incident leading to Rowland’s arrest began when Baxter County deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call at a residence along state Highway 5 North in late October last year. They were told by dispatchers a male at that address had been “cut up really bad.”
The deputies were also informed the fight had been between Rowland and 42-year-old Mark Baker. A caller had reported to 911 that Baker was on the ground outside the mobile home covered in blood.
When the deputies arrived, they made contact with Rowland who became agitated, telling the lawmen she was on the phone with 911. The deputies told her that she could discontinue the call, since they were on scene.
Rowland was reported to be extremely intoxicated and carried a bottle of vodka around with her until a deputy took it away.
Baker told the deputies he had been attacked by Rowland and her son, beaten and cut. The deputies noted Baker had several gashes to his body. He was loaded into an ambulance and taken to Baxter Regional Medical Center.
Deputies reported finding a large pool of blood outside the mobile home, as well as several other places, including a mattress laid out on the living room floor.
A large machete located on a table in the living room had traces of blood and hair on the blade.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Rowland began yelling at the deputies, as Baker was being loaded into the ambulance. They told her to stay back because she was interfering with Baker’s treatment.
She told the lawmen they had no right to tell her what to do. As she was being handcuffed, Rowland started actively resisting. When a deputy warned if she did not stop hampering Baker’s treatment by emergency medical personnel, a Taser would be used, she was reported to have taunted, “Go ahead and shoot me with that thing.”
Even after she fell to the ground, Rowland was still fighting, and the stun gun was used once more.
After the second jolt, Rowland was handcuffed and taken to jail. Rowland had filed a petition seeking an order of protection to keep Baker away from her on Sept. 20, 2019. She appeared in court five days later and asked the petition be dismissed.
She has been an inmate in the county jail since being arrested at the scene on Oct. 26 last year. According to the jail log, Rowland’s bond is set at $50,000. Circuit Judge Gordon Webb told Rowland he was hesitant to accept the probation plea for “a crime that involved this level of violence, but I have faith that local officials have come up with a reasonable plea.”
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI