Charges of fighting with, threatening to kill police officer reduced to misdemeanor

A woman charged with fighting with police and threatening to kill one officer appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court on March 17.

The charge against 33-year-old Jessa James was reduced to misdemeanor. She pled guilty and was put on unsupervised probation for 12 months.

She was arrested June 1 last year when Mountain Home Police officers responded to a unit in the Meadow Springs Apartment complex to conduct a welfare check on James.

According to the probable cause affidavit, an out-of-state friend of hers called police and said she had talked with James on the phone and that James had threatened to take her own life.

When a police dispatcher initially called James to see if she needed assistance, James is claimed to have invited police to “come murder me.”

When officers arrived on scene, they went to James’ apartment. She initially answered the knock on her front door and then shoved it shut and locking the deadbolt.

According to the probable cause affidavit, James eventually came outside to talk with police.

She was reported as being in a “disheveled state, wide eyed and looking frantic.”

The officers explained to James that police officers were there to help her. She was offered medical attention but declined.

She then asked the officers to stay with her through the day to “keep her safe.” James was reported to have become angry when the officers told her other duties would not permit an all-day guard service as she had proposed.

On hearing her request could not be granted, it was reported that the “tone of her voice and body posture changed.” She is said to have threatened to “take your gun and shoot you in the head.”

James was reported to have continued her rambling conversation until she “lunged forward and started swinging both fists at an officer.”

The officer was struck once on the right side of the face but did not require medical attention.

After a short struggle, James was brought under control and taken to the Baxter County Detention Center.

According to the probable cause affidavit, jail staff was informed about the suicide threats. They handled James per jail policy, including dressing her in a “suicide smock” and housing her in an isolation cell until the intake process could be completed.

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