Photo: Michael Strange
The trial of a Mountain Home man had to be canceled Wednesday when not enough jurors showed up to hear the case.
It was reset for Thursday. On the second try, enough jurors showed up, but the defendant was a no-show for more than a half hour.
When 30-year-old Michael Strange did not appear for the 9 a.m. start of court, police officers went to his home.
They reported knocking on the door and hearing dogs bark inside, but no one responded.
Some time after officers left the residence, Strange came walking into the courtroom.
Circuit Judge John Putman took the bench, telling Strange he was more than 30 minutes late, that he had not let the court know he would not be on time and that prospective jurors who had come to hear the case had already been sent home.
Using the contempt power of the court, Judge Putman ordered Strange locked up in the Baxter County Detention Center and set his bond at $25,000 cash.
Prosecutor David Ethredge announced his office would also be filing failure to appear charges against Strange.
His trial will be reset.
The trial was canceled Wednesday when only 21 prospective jurors reported — below the number necessary to allow attorneys on both sides to exercise their right to excuse potential jurors from service on a particular case.
Jurors can be excused for cause if approved by the court or a certain number can be dismissed by either side with no reason given.
Strange’s charges include having drugs and stolen property in his possession. The charges were filed as the result of two high-speed chases early in the morning of January 17 last year.
The first pursuit began after an Mountain Home Police Department (MHPD) officer attempted to stop the vehicle driven by Strange for a minor traffic violation.
Strange refused to stop and, at one point, turned on his emergency flashers and accelerated.
During the initial chase, Strange was estimated to have been traveling 80-100 miles per hour.
After a time, the first officer broke off the pursuit.
A short time later, another MHPD officer spotted Strange’s vehicle on Kingsberry Drive. Once again, Strange refused to stop and sped off.
The officer followed him until he pulled into the driveway of a residence along Marquis Drive.
Strange was reported to have gotten out of his vehicle and began walking toward the front door of the residence.
He was stopped and taken into custody.
A search of the vehicle turned up a small zip lock baggie containing approximately .42 grams of suspected methamphetamine.
A black backpack was also found in the vehicle containing a camera that still had part of a display case attached to it. According to the probable cause affidavit, Strange was “adamant that the backpack not be seized.”
Officer did seize it, however, because they felt the camera had been stolen.
During the investigation, video surveillance camera footage at the Mountain Home Walmart was reviewed.
It was reported to show Strange cut the security cord that attached the display camera to the shelf.
The cord recovered at Walmart matched that still attached to the camera found in Strange’s backpack.
The affidavit alleged Strange stole other items at the store but provides no details as to the items or their value.
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