An alleged assault with a knife during an apparent attempt to steal a pair of tennis shoes has led to four felony charges filed against a West Plains man with a lengthy criminal history.
Jason A. Sanders, 36, West Plains is accused of first-degree robbery, first-degree assault and armed criminal action, two counts.
West Plains Police Officer Nathaniel Siegrist, in a statement submitted to prosecutors, reported he arrived at about 7:13 p.m. Dec. 22 at an apartment on Hubert Redburn Drive to investigate a report of a man yelling for help.
Siegrist reported he spoke with the man, who had wounds including multiple scrapes on his forehead, a large red circular mark under his right eye and large cut on his hand.
He reportedly told Siegrist he had been in a "tussle" with Sanders, who was still in the apartment's bathroom, but when the officer attempted to talk with Sanders, he would not make any statements.
When the officer went back to the room where the victim was, saw the extent of the injury on his hand and asked if he wanted to press charges, the victim reportedly said "no" aloud while nodding his head in the affirmative, as if he didn't want Sanders to hear what was going on, Siegrist stated.
Siegrist then stepped outside with the victim, who stated he had allowed Sanders in his apartment to try on a pair of Puma shoes because he wanted to buy them, and Sanders began removing them as the victim went into the bathroom.
When he came back out, the victim reported, he saw that Sanders was no longer wearing the shoes and had a large bulge in the front of his shirt. He added when he confronted Sanders about it and tried to take the shoes back Sanders knocked him to the ground and slammed the back of his head on the floor. The victim reportedly added he began to struggle with Sanders to get out from under him when Sanders allegedly first grabbed a fork off a nearby countertop and threatened to stab the victim with it, then grabbed an opened folding knife on the same countertop and tried to stab him in the neck while again threatening to kill him.
The wound on the victim's hand reportedly happened as he was taking the knife away from Sanders to prevent being stabbed, and the wound under the victim's eye was from Sanders pressing his thumb into the victim's eye during the assault.
Sanders was taken into custody and the next day was served a warrant with a $25,000 bond, court records show. He had not bonded as of Tuesday afternoon, but entered a "not guilty" plea at his arraignment Dec. 27. He appeared for a counsel status appearance on Monday before 37th Judicial Associate Court Judge R. David Ray, with Assistant Public Defender Jack Paisley providing legal representation. He is next scheduled to appear before Ray on Feb. 6 for a criminal case setting, the records show.
The case is being prosecuted by Howell County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Hutchings and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Rizwan Ahad.
Sanders' prior felony convictions include second-degree burglary and failure to return to confinement in 2010, resisting arrest in 2012, and a 2018 guilty plea to a charge of second-degree arson that eventually resulted in a seven-year sentence that was to have begun in May 2019, concurrent with a sentence for a conviction of resisting arrest, after failing to meet probation conditions.
