A Gamaliel woman has been acquitted of charges stemming from several violent attacks on staff members at the county jail and other law enforcement officers after being found unfit to proceed because of mental disease or defect.
Thirty-five-year-old Marissa Nicole Schofer has been placed in the custody of the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS)for detention, care and treatment.
She underwent a psychological examination in mid-April. DHS has been ordered to report back to the court if, within 10 months, it is determined that her fitness to proceed has been restored, or whether it is found her fitness to proceed cannot be restored and whether she presents a danger to herself or to the person or property of others.
Schofer was originally booked into the Baxter County Detention Center on a probation violation warrant issued by district court. The jail log shows her booking date as July 13, 2023.
She developed a habit of refusing to appear on the closed-circuit video system linking the courthouse with the jail. When she has made rare appearances, Schofer has been angry and belligerent.
Schofer’s charges include impairing the operations of a vital public facility and several counts of battery and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer or employee of a correction facility.
The three criminal cases opened in 2023 stemmed from events that took place on:
October 30 — Schofer is alleged to have attacked a jailer escorting her back to her cell from the shower. The incident resulted in the jailer suffering a broken nose.
The verbal and then physical confrontation occurred when Schofer is reported to have taken items from a rolling cart holding soiled laundry. The jailer attempted to take the items from Schofer and return them to the cart.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Schofer refused to give up her dirty blanket and soiled clothing items she had taken from the cart and punched the jailer in the nose. She was subdued by detention center staff.
July 20 — Schofer lashed out at law officers while in an area at the court complex where clerks of the district court are located.
She was initially reported to have become “agitated” when interacting with the clerks.
As the confrontation grew in intensity, she spit in one officer’s face and tore his shirt. Five officers in the court complex responded to the disturbance, got Schofer under control and removed her to the inmate holding area.
April 11 — Schofer was reported to have grown irate when a commissary order she said she expected was not delivered, according to the probable cause affidavit.
She was asked if she had put an order in for the items. Schofer insisted she was not required to order from the commissary and that whatever she needed was “delivered.”
A jailer attempted to explain to Schofer that orders had to be placed by inmates to receive items from the commissary. The inmate was also told to stop kicking her cell door.
Schofer was told she would be locked down because of the disturbance she was causing. Schofer was reported to have initially agreed, but then “reared her fist back” and struck the jailer on the left side of her face.
Her behavior while an inmate in the county jail was often described as bizarre.
In early 2024, it was reported Schofer was refusing to shower, communicate or even come out of her cell for long stretches of time. She was reported to hide under the bed in her cell at times.
A court order was issued by Circuit Judge Johnnie Copeland on March 22 last year authorizing the Baxter County Sheriffs office to use “reasonable measures” to ensure that Schofer’s basic needs were met.
The order allowed for the limited use of spit masks, restraints and other devices to ensure that jail staff could safely do for Schofer what she was refusing to do for herself.
If other measures failed, Judge Copeland’s order allowed jail staff to use stun guns if they were set on their lowest setting.
In the order, Judge Copeland wrote that Schofer has “prevented” the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office from helping her by launching frequent attacks on jail staff and others. The judge said Schofer’s behavior was likely due to mental illness.
Her bond was set at slightly more than $45,000.
All of the dismissal orders were signed by Circuit Judge John Putman on Monday (January 13).
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