Sheriff’s assailant takes plea deal

A Rockholds man, who is suing Whitley County Sheriff Lawrence Hodge for allegedly beating him up during a traffic stop in April 2007, pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to resisting arrest during the incident.
Special Judge Cletus Miracle followed the prosecutor’s recommendation and sentenced Jimmy Earl

Thomas, 56, to 90 days in jail, but agreed to conditionally discharge that sentence for two years.
Miracle credited Thomas with having already served five days in jail, and ordered him to pay $125 court costs.

Thomas was indicted on Aug. 13, 2007, for third-degree assault, resisting arrest and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, and had been scheduled to stand trial Tuesday morning.
In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the third-degree assault charge.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble said that if the case had gone to trial then the jury would have had to convict Thomas of either third-degree assault or resisting arrest, but couldn’t have convicted him on both charges.

“I think with the facts of the case, the jury could have found him guilty of resisting arrest,” Trimble said. “The DUI charge had previously been dismissed because we had no evidence he was intoxicated. The blood test was negative for drugs or alcohol.”

Trimble said he felt that the plea agreement was a good resolution to the case.

“The sheriff’s department and police acted appropriately. Mr. Thomas just overreacted to the lawful acts of the police,” Trimble said.

The charges stemmed from an April 6, 2007 traffic stop by sheriff’s deputies near Rockholds Market.
The details of what happened vary between the lawsuit and the arrest citations.

About 6:50 p.m., Deputy Ben Hodge, the sheriff’s son, pulled Thomas over for allegedly weaving in and out of his lane of travel several times, Williamsburg Police Officer Shawn Jackson wrote on the arrest citations.

Thomas allegedly had slurred speech, blood shot eyes, was unsteady on his feet, and refused all sobriety tests, according to the citations.

“Offender stated he had been taking narcotic pain medication,” Jackson wrote on the arrest citations.
The citations further alleged that Thomas would not comply with orders from officers, and that when he got out of the vehicle he stated he had a gun, and reached back into the vehicle.

“Officers ordered subject to show his hands. Offender then came out of vehicle swinging his fists, and punched Sheriff Hodge in the mouth,” Jackson wrote on the citation. “Offender had to be physically restrained while kicking and punching at officers.”

The lawsuit, which Thomas filed a month later in Whitley Circuit Court, alleged that the second words spoken to Thomas by the sheriff’s deputy, who pulled him over, were “When is your next hearing with the sheriff?”
When the sheriff arrived, Thomas alleged that he was taken from his truck, his weapon confiscated, and that he was forced to his knees and “beaten” by the sheriff and those acting at his direction.

“At the direction of the sheriff, solely as retaliation for the plaintiff’s lawful attempt to obtain his stolen property, the sheriff had and permitted excessive force to be used on the plaintiff,” attorney David O. Smith wrote in the lawsuit.

“The plaintiff was falsely arrested and charged with false charges that were fabricated by the defendant sheriff, and those acting in concert with him.”
The lawsuit alleged that Thomas recorded part of the conversation with deputies, but that the tape recorder and recordings were confiscated by the sheriff or his employees and hasn’t been returned.

The lawsuit seeks more than $8,000 in damages, and for Hodge to be removed as sheriff for malfeasance of office.

The lawsuit stems primarily from an April 6, 2007, incident that allegedly stems in part from a Dec. 4, 2005 arrest of Thomas by sheriff’s deputies.

Sheriff’s deputies charged Thomas with possession of a defaced firearm apparently while conducting an illegal alcohol sale raid at Darlene Ellery’s residence in Rockholds, according to court documents.
“Jimmy E. Thomas lives with me at my trailer. He was not present at the time of the arrest,” Ellery wrote in her affidavit, which was filed with the lawsuit. “They took guns belonging to Jimmy Thomas, hunting knives, holsters, his new gas generator from Home Builders, two chain saws, skill saws, two weed eaters, the new scanner, an old scanner, and the refrigerators.”

The charge against Thomas was dismissed on Jan. 18, 2006, as part of an agreed order. On Feb. 1, 2007, District Judge Cathy Prewitt ordered that several items be returned to Thomas.

On March 9, 2007, Smith filed a motion on behalf of Thomas to have Hodge held in contempt for not returning the items, but Hodge couldn’t be present at the hearing due to illness. A supplemental motion concerning the contempt motion was mailed to Hodge on April 3, 2007, informing him a hearing on the matter was scheduled for April 9, 2007.

Special Judge Gary Payne has been appointed to preside over the civil case.

So far there is no trial date scheduled, and no motions have been filed in the case since June 2008, according to the circuit clerk’s office.

Thomas’ attorney in the criminal case, Lee Gilbert, declined to comment following court Tuesday.