Arrest warrant issued for man who was no-show in court

Photo: Gerald Phillip Morris

A 39-year-old Mountain Home man with a long criminal history was a no-show in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday, and a warrant for his arrest was issued.

Gerald Phillip Morris is charged with a number of counts of felony possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia, as well as simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms and being a felon in possession of a weapon.

The drugs and firearms charge is a Class Y felony punishable by up to life in prison.

Morris entered a plea of not guilty to the charges against him Oct. 17 last year, and his bond was set at $50,000.

Morris was one of four people arrested when a search warrant was served at a residence along County Road 1008 Oct. 9 of last year. The probable cause affidavit says the home is Morris’ known residence.

Officers reported locating several drugs in the home, including 186 grams of methamphetamine, almost 3 grams of fentanyl and several dosage units of LSD.

In addition, officers found a loaded handgun and numerous items of drug paraphernalia, including packaging used in the sale of methamphetamine.

Almost $15,000 in cash and several vehicles were seized.

Morris’ attorney has filed a motion to have the cash returned to his client, claiming the seizure of the money prevented the Mountain Home man from hiring the legal representative of his choice in violation of his Sixth Amendment rights.

Morris is now being represented by the Public Defender’s Office. On the affidavit outlining his financial situation, Morris lists himself as unemployed.

Morris’ attorney has also filed a motion to have evidence seized at the residence suppressed. Among other claims in that motion is that the affidavit used to obtain a search warrant contains “no facts showing that criminal activity took place or that items of contraband would be found in the home that was searched.”

In the new case, Morris is being charged as a habitual offender. He has an extensive criminal record dating back to 1999, facing mainly theft and drug charges.

Criminal cases were opened on Morris in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2012 and 2016.

He has spent significant time on probation, as well as doing stints in the state prison system. Two of the cases were dismissed – one charge of intimidating a witness filed in 1999 and a drug charge in 2001.

If the habitual offender charge sticks, prosecutors can add more time to any sentence Morris might get in his 2019 case.

He was close to completing the 14th Judicial District Drug Court Program when he was arrested for selling a small quantity of methamphetamine in 2012. His probation was revoked, and he was sent to prison for 10 years in October of that year.

Arrested with Morris were his wife, 25-year-old Kaitlyn Johnston-Morris, his sister, 55-year-old Dawn Thompson, and a man he identifies as his uncle, 60-year-old Howard Johnson.


Photo: Dawn Thompson

Thompson, Johnson and Johnston-Morris have all been ordered to reappear in circuit court Sept. 10.


Photo: Howard Johnson

Johnston-Morris is serving a 10-year prison sentence on a conviction in an Izard County drug case. The charges against her included maintaining a drug premises. She is an inmate in the McPherson Unit of the state prison system at Newport.


Photo: Kaitlyn Johnston-Morris

Johnston-Morris acting as her own attorney has filed a motion in her current Baxter County case to get back an automobile and money from a wallet she says were seized in the early October raid.

Together, those arrested in the 2019 Baxter County drug case have had a combined total of more than 35 criminal cases opened against them in Baxter and other counties.

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