Photo: Michael Strange
The jury trial of a Mountain Home man that was cancelled twice finally got underway Wednesday.
On the second day of the trial, a Baxter County Circuit Court jury deliberated about two hours before finding 31-year-old Michael Strange guilty of all but one charge against him.
The guilty verdicts covered possessing methamphetamine and stolen property, fleeing from police and reckless driving.
He was found not guilty on a charge of refusing to submit to arrest.
The jury recommended Strange be sentenced to seven years and six months in the Arkansas Department of Correction, and Circuit Judge John Putman accepted the recommendation.
All of the sentences will run concurrent with the prison sentence.
The state had asked for 15 years in prison, but the jury opted to cut that in half. The longer sentence had been requested, since Strange has five prior felony convictions.
CHASES AND CHARGES
The charges against Strange were filed as the result of two high-speed chases in the early morning hours of Jan. 17 last year.
The first pursuit began after an officer from the Mountain Home Police Department (MHPD) 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 was ordered to break off the pursuit, because of the potential danger in chasing someone in the city limits at high speeds.
Another MHPD officer spotted Strange’s vehicle on Kingsberry Drive shortly after the first officer had terminated his pursuit. Once again, Strange refused to stop and sped off.
The officer followed him a short distance, until he pulled into the driveway of a residence along Marquis Drive that is listed as his home address.
Strange was reported to have gotten out of his vehicle and stepped toward the front door.
He was stopped and taken into custody.
Strange became visibly upset several times during Wednesday’s court session. When an officer testified Strange was “walking” toward his house, he cried out “objection,” saying he had “only taken about two steps.”
DRUGS AND A STOLEN CAMERA
According to the probable cause affidavit, a search of Strange’s vehicle turned up a plastic bag containing a small amount of 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 cord still attached to the camera found in Strange’s backpack.
The Walmart surveillance camera video was played for the jury. Deputy Prosecutor Kerry Chism told the jurors that the person on the video, alleged to be Strange, leaves the area where cameras are displayed and “sprints out of the store.”
METH PLANTED?
Deputy Public Defender James Wallace, who represented Strange, contended methamphetamine found on his client could have been planted by police.
He said since Strange had tried to outrun the police twice in one night, it would be “reasonable to assume” that he had angered the officers, and they might have wanted to “stick it to him.”
Wallace suggested the lack of body-cam footage left one to “guess where they got the meth from.”
He said among multiple officers at the scene, “We have footage from one body-cam taken in the front yard” of Strange’s residence.
Wallace said it was the policy of the MHPD that body-cams be turned on when an officer is involved in an incident.
He said various reasons had been given for the lack of body-cam footage, but that the end result was a very limited record of the search.
In his closing argument on Thursday, Wallace said the arrest of his client was botched. He said MHPD officers who were involved in the event were “either incompetent or corrupt. It’s one of the other.”
Wallace said an acquittal of his client “will tell the Mountain Home Police Department this is not good enough, the people deserve better.”
Chism put a number of Mountain Home police officers on the stand Wednesday to testify as to their involvement in the incident.
Each one was questioned about the defense’s claim that officers had planted methamphetamine on Strange. The accusation was adamantly denied.
In his closing argument, Chism called Wallace’s statements regarding the possibility of MHPD officers planting meth in Strange’s car “pure garbage.”
Chism said Wallace had presented no evidence to support his claim and had slandered the reputations of “good officers and men he does not even know.”
He told the jury, “what you have heard about planting evidence is just Mr. Wallace talking, that’s all it is.”
In his opening statement, Chism said there were “no what-ifs in this case.” He said Strange fled from police because he knew he had illegal drugs and stolen property in his vehicle.
Chism told the jury panel the case was “really all about selfishness, about a man who believes the rules don’t apply” to him.
CANCELLED TWICE
The trial had been cancelled twice. The first time was due to not having enough jurors show up to hear the case.
On the second try, enough jurors showed up, but Strange didn’t. He was a no-show for more than a half hour.
When 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 walked 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 been sent home.
Judge Putman found Strange in contempt of court and ordered that he be locked up in the Baxter County Detention Center.
His bond was set at $25,000 cash.
Prosecutor David Ethredge has also filed failure to appear charges against Strange. Failure to appear in a circuit court case is a separately charged felony.
Strange has been jailed since being held in contempt.
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