Brandy Mae Knight
Waiving her right to an attorney, a woman stood before Circuit Judge John Putman Monday and basically begged to be put in prison.
Thirty-two-year-old Brandy Mae Knight made her appeal during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court.
She was in court because a petition had been filed to revoke her probation in a July 2020 drug case.
Knight told the judge she wanted to plead guilty and that she is dealing with “a terrible drug problem.”
Her drug addiction has led to scrapes with the law in Baxter and Washington counties.
Judge Putman told Knight an attorney could possible work out a plea where she would receive treatment at one of the Community Correction Centers in the state.
Knight said she “had no interest in that.” Her goal, she told the court, was to do her prison time and then seek a way to fight her drug addiction and to find support to ensure she stayed drug free.
The judge said if that was the way she wanted to go, he would oblige by revoking her probation, and sentencing her to four years in prison.
The case in which the revocation was being sought was opened in 2020. Knight was in a vehicle pulled over by a Mountain Home police officer.
During the stop, a drug dog was brought to the scene and alerted to the odor of illegal narcotics, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Officers found a syringe between the front driver’s seat and the center console.
A jar was also found containing a white residue consistent with methamphetamine.
Officers asked Knight if she had anything illegal on her person and warned if she entered the jail with such items, she would face another felony charge.
Knight admitted she had a package of syringes and methamphetamine in her bra.
The items were taken as evidence.
Almost immediately after being sentenced, Knight began to violate the terms and conditions of her probation. She was alleged not to have reported as required and to have avoided all contact with parole/probation officers with the Arkansas Department of Community Correction.
As she stood before the court Monday, she confessed, “yes, I ran and they could not find me.”
Knight has apparently led a more or less nomadic life, according to electronic court records.
She has listed a number of addresses and indicated on more than one court document that “friends” were paying all of her bills and providing a place for her to stay.
Knight has also had problems retaining custody of children and has had orders of protection filed against her by a number of people, including her own mother.
In one affidavit seeking a protective order, Knight’s mother said her daughter got up one morning and became very angry.
She said Knight blamed the mother for losing custody of her three children.
The mother said Knight “was calling me names, knocked me down on the floor and had me by the hair.”
She said she wanted the order of protection, “because I don’t want her around me anymore. I am scared of her and don’t trust her.”
Knight was arrested in Washington County in 2012. According to the probable cause affidavit, she had gone there to be with her ex-husband.
The husband told police he had allowed her to stay “because she was going through hard times.”
He told investigators Knight had taken him to school in late August 2012 using his truck.
She was to return and pick him up, but never showed.
After getting a ride from a friend, the ex-husband returned home to find his flat screen television set, an X-Box game console and laptop computer were all missing.
The ex-husband reported he was able to contact Knight by text message and told her if she returned his truck and the other stolen items, he would not press charges.
She promised to return the items – except for the television that she said she had already pawned.
Knight did not make good on her word and her ex-husband went to the police.
Investigators rapidly discovered that Knight had pawned all of the missing property.
After the truck was listed as stolen, a policeman in Ash Flat saw it on the side of the road. Knight was with the vehicle.
She was arrested and eventually returned to Washington County where she pled guilty to stealing the property from her ex-husband and was put on probation for 48 months.
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