Cross County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michael Ladd abruptly tendered his resignation Tuesday morning during a recess in criminal court proceedings.
"He told me that the pressures of the job were getting excessive and that he wanted to resign, effective whenever I said. So I said, 'Next week,'" said 1st Judicial Circuit Prosecuting Attorney Fletcher Long, who has been Ladd's boss for more than a dozen years.
Long said Wednesday that he met privately with Ladd at the courthouse during a court recess because "Michael was obviously distressed."
When the pair re-entered the courtroom, the judge asked what the problem was, Long said, adding, "I told him that Michael was resigning."
Asked why Ladd was feeling such duress that he felt compelled to quit, Long said, "It just mounts up when you're responsible for that many cases."
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette left a message with Ladd's wife, who said she didn't think he would comment. Ladd didn't immediately return the message.
Ladd currently faces a misdemeanor charge of harassment. The charge stems from an Arkansas State Police investigation into whether Ladd and his brother, David, pulled into the driveway of Michael Ladd's neighbor, honking and yelling that they hoped the neighbor would die.
The neighbor, Dwight Brown, said the incident happened after he asked Wynne authorities to cite Ladd for allowing his dogs to run loose through the neighborhood.
Ladd is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 17 on the misdemeanor charge.
Meanwhile, state police investigators are still looking into an allegation that Ladd brandished a gun at a Cross County bar in March.
Ladd has found himself in trouble with the law before.
In 2006, he was arrested in Jonesboro for driving drunk. Ladd initially pleaded no contest in district court to charges of DWI, refusing to take a breath-analyzer test and impeding traffic flow.
He later filed a misdemeanor appeal in circuit court.
In August 2008, Ladd entered a guilty plea to DWI, and prosecutors dropped the other two charges.
State Desk on 09/04/2014