Since 2013, Leigh Goldsworth Blackmon of Yellville has picked up criminal charges in both Baxter and Marion Counties.
The 33-year-old Blackmon appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division Monday (July 21) for a hearing to determine if his probation should be revoked because of his alleged violations of the terms and conditions of the probational.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Circuit Judge John Putman revoked Blackmon’s probation and sentenced him to eight years in prison.
It was alleged that he had violated his probation in several ways, including picking up a 2nd degree sexual assault charge that was reported to have occurred in late February 2023 but was not reported until several months later.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the female victim had been in a relationship with Blackmon at one time and he was the father of her two children.
The woman testified and told the court she had allowed her ex-boyfriend to stay in her residence after he had gotten out of prison because he had nowhere else to go. She said while he was living in her apartment, they were not sharing a bedroom and were not involved in any sort of relationship except for sharing the two children.
When she was asked by Blackmon’s defense attorney while she had let Blackmon come into her home after he had been abusive to her during the relationship. She told the court that Blackmon had not been supportive of the children and that she “took every opportunity to try and get him to be more involved with them, help with them.”
The victim told investigators that she had installed three security cameras in her house for the protection of herself and her children and those cameras caught the sexual activity involving Blackmon.
She said Blackmon was staying in the upstairs bedroom of the apartment and she slept on the couch downstairs. A five-minute tape of the sexual encounter, which took place about 6:30 a.m., was shown during the hearing.
It showed Blackmon looking at the camera while standing over the sleeping victim on the couch and masturbating. He was also reported to have made an obscene gesture toward the camera.
Blackmon’s defense attorney told the court that it was possible taping sexual activity was part of the couple’s “way of doing things.” Prosecutors responded that no evidence had been presented to back up such a statement. Blackmon exercised his Fifth Amendment rights and did not take the stand during the hearing.
Blackmon’s now revoked probation sentence stemmed from a conviction on a charge of residential burglary and tampering with physical evidence in connection with a break-in in late June 2019. He was convicted of those crimes in late October 2020.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Blackmon broke into the resident of the man he was working for when the man and his family were away on vacation.
His actions were captured on security cameras in that incident as well. It showed him moving through the house and going through a cabinet where the family kept medications, including pain medicines prescribed for the wife following surgery. The medications were the only things that appeared to be missing.
Blackmon eventually noticed the cameras and disabled them by disconnecting the Wi-Fi in the residence.
He has been jailed in Marion County since October 20, 2023, on charges in that county as well as having a hold placed on him by Baxter County.
OTHER CHARGES
In Marion County, he has also been accused of shooting a man with a shotgun, striking his cousin with a shovel and a 2×4 plank of wood.
Charges have been lodged against him for breaking into a house and stealing items, taking vehicles, possessing drugs and drug paraphernalia.
At the beginning, most charges against Blackmon stemmed from thefts, but later he was arrested for physically assaulting people.
The two cases that remain active in Marion County involve charges that he shot a man, leaving him with serious injuries and for physically attacking his cousin with a shovel and board.
SHOT MAN WITH SHOTGUN
In mid-October 2023, a woman called the Marion County 911 Center and reported she was driving a man, later identified as Michael Ray Vetor, to the ambulance base in Yellville because he had been shot.
The woman said the incident had occurred at a residence in the Summitt area and that Blackmon had been the shooter.
There are no details in the probable cause affidavit spelling out what led to the incident.
Blackmon is charged with first degree battery, being a felon in possession of a firearm, committing a felony with a firearm and being a habitual offender.
The battery charge is a Class Y felony which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
ATTACKED RELATIVE
In the other active Marion County case, Blackmon is accused of attacking his cousin with a shovel and a board.
In early March 2022, Blackmon’s cousin drove to a house where Blackmon lived with his father. The cousin said he went there to retrieve two tool bags that had been stolen from him.
He said he had seen his tool bags under the house during an earlier trip.
When the cousin spoke to the father, he was told Blackmon was not at home. He then reported telling the father he was going to take his tool bags.
The father is alleged to have admonished him not to remove the “because that would be stealing.”
Blackmon was notified and returned home. He was reported to have “jumped out of his truck yelling and screaming” at the cousin.
He is then alleged to have picked up a shovel and began swinging it at his relative. When the shovel slipped out of his hands, Blackmon is reported to have picked up a board and continued the attack.
The cousin suffered a broken arm in the attack and shortly after the incident filed for a protective order to keep Blackmon away from him.
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