BENTONVILLE -- A circuit judge has ordered Benton County Sheriff Shawn Holloway to appear in court to explain why some probation violators were not booked into the county jail.
Benton County Circuit Judge Robin Green issued a summons for Holloway to appear June 25 for a show cause hearing in seven probation revocation cases. The individuals were taken into custody, but jail staff didn't book them into the facility.
The issue came to Green's attention during court proceedings. A probation officer asked Green when judges were going to allow probation violators to be booked into the jail again.
Green said she wasn't aware the jail was turning away probation violators. She said jail staff had no authority to turn away the violators because there were court orders for their arrests.
A warrant orders an individual to be arrested and brought to court or if the court is adjourned they are to be taken to the jail, according to court documents.
The probation officer told Green he took Dakota Edwards into custody for violating his probation, and jail staff refused to accept Edwards. The probation officer said he had to take the handcuffs off Edwards and watch him walk away while knowing there is a felony warrant for his arrest.
That should not have happened, Green said. Green and Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren handle most of the criminal cases in the county.
Green is requesting summonses in at least five revocation cases. She wants Holloway to explain why the jail didn't accept Robert Blau, Dustin Ray, Alfredo Arroyo, Carlos Alvarado and Kendall Shelley.
Edwards' case is in Karren's court.
Bentonville lawyer Shane Wilkinson, who will represent Holloway, said the Sheriff's Office has ended the practice of refusing probation violators. Wilkinson said four of the individuals in the cases where summons were issued are in custody.
A probation officer filed a petition March 19 to revoke Ray's probation because he failed to report to his probation officer and failed to pay fines and costs, according to court documents. Green signed an order for Ray's arrest April 10, according to court documents.
The court file does not specify when Ray was arrested and not jailed for the probation revocation.
Prosecutors filed a second petition May 20 for Ray's arrest. The second petition accuses Ray of committing a May 19 robbery in Fayetteville, according to court documents.
"When I became aware that some people arrested on warrants had been turned away by the jail due to concerns over the spread of covid-19, I and several of my deputy prosecutors raised the issue with the Sheriff's Office," Benton County Prosecuting Attorney Nathan Smith said.
"Even though a desire to protect jail staff and inmates from the spread of covid-19 is understandable, I believed that the procedures put in place to further that goal failed to follow court orders, could jeopardize public safety and could imperil the ability to prosecute certain offenders," he said.
Smith said he urged the Sheriff's Office to end the practice.
Smith said his office has learned that 117 warrants were unconfirmed and 50 felony warrants and 28 misdemeanor warrants remain unserved. Smith said the numbers may be lower because of the work that the Sheriff's Office is doing to correct the issue.
Holloway previously said his office was working with Smith and the circuit judges to release detainees on a case-by-case basis to prevent the spread of covid-19. Holloway said the jail's capacity is 667 beds, but it had as many as 700 inmates before the pandemic.
The jail's population Friday was 421 inmates.
Kelly Cantrell, public information officer for the Washington County Sheriff's Office, said they have not been turning away any probation violators.