Photo: Dale Wayne Davis
A not guilty plea was entered for a man arrested after firing several shots at his wife during a violent domestic disturbance at the couple’s residence along Norfork River Road. The plea came during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court last Thursday.
Thirty-year-old Dale Wayne Davis is charged with aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a minor and interfering with an emergency communications device. The waiver of formal arraignment was filed by Davis’ attorney, Mark Cooper.
Davis is free on $50,000 bond. An order was also issued prohibiting him from having contact with the victim.
Davis’ wife told investigators she returned home from work during the afternoon of June 20 and found her husband extremely intoxicated and in a “severe state of agitation.”
She said an argument ensued, because Davis was supposed to be caring for the couple’s small child.
The victim threatened to call law enforcement, and Davis left the house.
Davis’ wife then locked the front door hoping to keep him out, but he kicked the door open, reentered the house and continued to threaten and argue in a loud voice.
The wife contacted a third party asking him to come to her residence and see if he could calm her husband down and perhaps get him to leave. The effort was unsuccessful.
The victim told Davis she would not call law enforcement, if he would get himself under control.
He is reported to have taken her phone so she could not call anyone and retrieved a firearm from an adjacent closet near the front door.
The victim said she tried to leave and go to a neighbor’s house. It was at this point the woman said Davis began shooting.
One round hit near the woman’s feet. She reported Davis pointed the gun in her face and threw her phone on the ground. When she bent down to pick up the phone, Davis is alleged to have fired a shot at her hand.
In all, three shots were fired, according to the probable cause affidavit.
As she made her way to the neighbor’s residence, Davis is reported to have got in her vehicle and left the scene.
He gave himself up at the Baxter County Detention Center June 25 and was bonded out about a half hour later.
Davis’ wife filed a petition for an Order of Protection in late January. She alleged her husband’s drinking had gotten “out of hand,” when he became involved in an effort to regain custody of his twin daughters.
According to court records, the two girls live with relatives.
Davis’ wife alleged her husband had said “awful things in front of the kids.”
In the affidavit accompanying the petition for the order of protection, the wife says Davis “broke things in front of the girls and scared them.”
The wife dropped the petition in early February.
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