JP accused of striking Greene County judge

PARAGOULD - A justice of the peace who authorities said hit Greene County Judge Jerry Shipman during a January meeting about county roads faces a second-degree battery charge, a prosecutor said Friday.

Clay County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mike Trail of Rector approved a warrant for the arrest of Ronnie Wood of Paragould that was approved by Circuit Judge Ralph Wilson Jr. of Osceola.

Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington assigned the case to Trail to avoid conflicts of interest by the Greene County prosecutor’s office.

Wood, whose age was unavailable, had not been arrested by Friday evening. He did not return a telephone message left on a number the Greene County clerk provided for him.

In a probable-cause affidavit filed in Greene County District Court in Paragould seeking the arrest warrant, Arkansas State Police investigator Wendall Jines of Jonesboro said Wood struck Shipman on Jan. 22 while the Quorum Court met at the Phillips Auction Barn on Greene County Road 721 to discuss county road improvements.

Witnesses told Jines that Wood and Shipman were arguing when Wood hit Shipman in the shoulder. Shipman, 72, said the force wrenched his back, and he felt numbness in his left leg.

Ellington said Trail would charge Wood with a felony because of Shipman’s age.

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Arkansas, Pages 10 on 03/29/2014

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