With a jury trial looming next week, a Cabot man entered a conditional guilty plea Tuesday to charges that he shot a Jacksonville police officer who was assisting in the execution of a federal search warrant on Nov. 22, 2013.
Mark Lyle Dodson, 54, admitted that during a predawn raid at his Cabot home, he fired a 16-gauge shotgun through a bedroom door at officers who had broken down the front door and entered the home to serve a no-knock warrant obtained by Drug Enforcement Administration officers in search of methamphetamine.
The shotgun blast struck officer Jerry Keefer in the arm, and he and two other Jacksonville police officers returned fire, hitting Dodson three or four times in the arms and legs. Keefer was treated at a hospital and released that day, while Dodson was hospitalized for his injuries and arrested upon his release days later.
The two other officers, John Alberson and Christopher Schultz, didn't require treatment for injuries they received as a result of the shooting.
Dodson was scheduled to be tried by a federal jury beginning Monday on seven charges, including the two on which he entered a conditional guilty plea Tuesday: assault of a government agent with a deadly weapon and using a firearm during a crime of violence.
The other charges he faced at trial were conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and two additional counts each of assault of a government agent with a deadly weapon and using a firearm during a crime of violence. The last four charges pertained to the minor injuries suffered by the other Jacksonville officers.
Dodson's attorneys, Hubert Alexander and his son, Christian Alexander, both of Jacksonville, negotiated a plea agreement that, if accepted by U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes, will require Dodson to serve 15 years in prison -- five for the assault and a consecutive 10-year sentence for using a gun.
Under federal statutes, the assault charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and the gun charge is punishable by 10 years to life in prison. Both charges are also punishable by a fine of up to $250,000.
After a presentence report is completed, Holmes will decide whether to accept the plea agreement. If he declines, Dodson may withdraw the plea and go to trial on all charges.
During a pretrial hearing last week, Holmes refused to suppress evidence seized in the raid, disagreeing with defense attorneys that the "daytime" warrant was executed illegally because the raid occurred at 6:20 a.m., while it was still dark outside. Holmes noted that the warrant, issued by a U.S. magistrate judge, defined "daytime" as any time between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Holmes also rejected arguments that officers shouldn't have used flash-bang devices, noting that the use of such devices is considered appropriate in the seven states under the jurisdiction of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals when officers serving a warrant think they might be in danger.
Lt. Brett Hibbs, the commander of the Jacksonville Police Department's Special Response Team, testified that flash-bang devices were used to give the officers an advantage because the residents were known to keep a loaded gun behind the front door. He said narcotics officers told him that every time the residents heard a noise outside, "they went out and fired blindly into the woods."
Only Dodson was home at the time, but both he and Mary Olszak, 53, were later indicted, accused of running a midsized methamphetamine operation out of the home they shared at 2327 Backbone Road. Olszak pleaded guilty Aug. 1 to distributing methamphetamine and is awaiting sentencing.
Metro on 05/13/2015