Greene County Justice of the Peace Ronnie Wood faces a felony battery charge stemming from a physical altercation in January, Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington said in a statement Friday.
County Judge Jerry Shipman, 72, said Wood, 57, struck him on Jan. 22 at the Phillips Auction Barn on Greene 721 Road near Finch, Ellington said.
Arkansas State Police Special Agent Wendall Jines was assigned to investigate the claim.
Clay County Deputy Prosecutor Mike Trail, of Rector, reviewed the case file and approved the second-degree battery warrant for Wood's arrest, issued by Circuit Judge Ralph Wilson Jr., of Osceola.
The charge was upgraded to a felony because of Shipman's age, Ellington said in the news release.
Ellington said the case was assigned out-of-county to Trail to avoid conflicts of interest by the Greene County prosecutor's office.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more on this story.