FAYETTEVILLE -- A Fayetteville man accused of selling drugs and trying to stab a police officer was a no-show for his trial Monday in Washington County Circuit Court.
Jason Clampit, 34, was arrested twice in five days in August. He was free on $100,000 bond.
Bench warrant
A court order authorizing the seizure of a person to make them appear in court. It is commonly used when someone failed to appear in court after proper service of a subpoena or when someone failed to remain in attendance at his trial. If a person fails to appear in court when he has been properly ordered to do so, the judge is authorized to issue a bench warrant authorizing a law enforcement officer to arrest him.
Source uslegal.com
Clampit was charged with simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, possession of oxycodone, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, delivery of marijuana and two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia.
Clampit also was charged with one count of attempted first-degree battery in the attempted stabbing incident. The battery charge likely will be tried separately, according to prosecutors.
Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay reset the cases for June 16 and issued a warrant for Clampit's arrest for failure to appear.
Detectives with the 4th Judicial District Drug Task Force arrested Clampit and two other men on drug and firearms charges Aug. 8. Detectives said they previously bought 14 grams of marijuana from Clampit, according to arrest reports.
Detectives saw John Fuhrman, 34, of Winslow and Daniel Hicks, 24, of Fayetteville, putting bags into Clampit's pickup, according to the report. Police stopped the vehicle and arrested Clampit. He resisted arrested and began to fight, kick and bite them, and tried to stab a detective with a screwdriver, according to the report.
Detectives searched the vehicle and found a bag containing 22 bags of methamphetamine totaling 44.3 grams, 11½ oxycodone pills, marijuana, scales, pipes and baggies, according to the report.
Police said they found a receipt for $4,000 sent from Clampit to Hicks in Colorado to buy marijuana.
A few days later, Clampit ran from police after he was spotted rummaging through a pickup at a convenience store on North Street.
When an officer tried to arrest him, Clampit pulled a knife and tried to stab the policeman. The officer drew his pistol, Clampit dropped the knife and ran into a nearby creek, according to the report. Officers searched the area but didn't find Clampit.
Clampit was arrested without incident about 10:20 a.m. the following day on Interstate 49 near Wedington Drive. He was a passenger in a car enroute to Dallas, according to the police report.
Hicks pleaded guilty last week to possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was sentenced to six years at the Arkansas Department of Correction.
Charges against Fuhrman were dropped by prosecutors.
Ron Wood can be reached by email at rwood@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWARDW.
NW News on 02/24/2015