The Little Rock man whose accusations that Jermain Taylor knocked him out with a face-shattering punch resulted in another felony charge against the boxer has been charged with methamphetamine possession in an unrelated case.
Jason Issac Condon, 39, was arrested on the charge in May, a week before his encounter with Taylor at the Oasis Renewal Center addiction treatment facility on Cooper Orbit Road, where both were enrolled. He was formally charged in Pulaski County Circuit Court on Wednesday.
Condon's accusation against Taylor led deputies to get an arrest warrant for the 36-year-old Olympic medal winner May 28, and Taylor was arrested on the second-degree battery charge the next day after a court hearing on the accusations. He's in jail awaiting the results of a mental examination requested by his lawyers at that hearing.
Prosecutors had asked for Taylor to be jailed over the battery accusations. The former boxing champion was already facing charges over accusations that he shot his cousin in August and fired a gun at a man and his family in January.
According to police reports, Condon suffered five bone fractures in both eye sockets and right cheek and was unconscious when Oasis staff took him to the hospital the night of May 13. He reported "significant" pain on the left side of his neck, and his right cheek was swollen to about the size of a golf ball. He had to undergo reconstructive surgery, according to an arrest affidavit.
Questioned at the hospital, Condon told Pulaski County sheriff's Deputy Jonathan Nutt that he couldn't remember what happened to him, saying his last memory before being awakened by hospital staff was eating chicken spaghetti for dinner.
The next day, Condon told the deputy that after a night's sleep, he recalled what happened. Condon said he was walking to the cabin he shared with Taylor, according to the report. He said he held up his hand for a high-five and called out, "What's up, J.T." He said Taylor then swatted his hand away and punched him in the face with his right hand, according to the affidavit.
Condon's drug charge, filed in Circuit Court on Wednesday, stems from a March 16 investigation into drug sales at the Extended Stay Hotel at Kanis and Shackleford roads in Little Rock, according to arrest reports.
With the property under police surveillance, Condon was identified as the driver of a black Dodge Magnum that drove into the parking lot. Condon got out of the vehicle carrying a bag and went inside, then quickly returned to his car empty-handed and left, police reports state.
In a subsequent traffic stop, Condon got out of the car with a small plastic bag balled up in his right hand. When he dropped it, sheriff's deputies found a white rocklike substance, and Condon admitted he had obtained methamphetamine at the hotel and that the suspected drugs officers had found belonged to him, police reports state. The substance was sent away for testing.
Investigators got an arrest warrant for Condon on May 4, citing a "lack of cooperation" with narcotics investigators. He was arrested two days later at his Monica Drive home. He was released later that day on $5,000 bond. The drug charge is a Class D felony that carries a six-year maximum sentence.
Metro on 06/16/2015