Dixon's misdemeanor trial set for Aug. 15

Michael R. Dixon, left, stands with his attorney Grant Boyd at Dixon's arraignment on Monday, May 2, 2016, at the Boone County Courthouse in Columbia, Mo.
Michael R. Dixon, left, stands with his attorney Grant Boyd at Dixon's arraignment on Monday, May 2, 2016, at the Boone County Courthouse in Columbia, Mo.

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Former Osage County Sheriff Michael Dixon will go to trial Aug. 15 on a misdemeanor charge of unlawful use of a weapon while he was intoxicated.

At a 15-minute hearing Tuesday, Boone County Associate Circuit Judge Deborah Daniels scheduled a two-day trial, beginning with jury selection at 9 a.m. Aug. 15.

Although Assistant Prosecutor Brouck Jacobs told Daniels "the state's case-in-chief will be done in one day," she agreed it was better to schedule the trial for the extra day.

"We try to get courtrooms reserved" so a case isn't held in different court rooms on different days, she said. "If I prepare a jury for two days, and the trial only goes one, they're really happy."

Daniels instructed Jacobs and Grant Boyd, an attorney who works with Dixon's main lawyer, Travis Noble Jr. of Clayton, to be prepared to resolve all pre-trial matters at an Aug. 8 hearing - including proposed jury instructions, pre-trial motions and evidentiary issues.

Boyd told reporters jury selection is one reason to make sure the trial is set for two days.

"Based on the fact that there's been some media attention to this case and his position as an elected official for some time," he said, "jury selection may take a little longer than we anticipate. And I'd always rather have to say we need two days when, really, we think we may be able to do it in one."

Boyd said the number of potential witnesses for the trial also leads him to think the trial may take two days.

Boone County prosecutors charged Dixon in April 2016 with a Class D felony for unlawful use of a weapon while he was intoxicated. However, last November they reduced that charge to a Class A misdemeanor, where the maximum sentence is one year in the county jail.

The charge said Dixon, on March 5, 2016, "knowingly had on his person a firearm and handled such firearm in a negligent manner in that defendant pointed the firearm at another person during a time when the defendant was intoxicated."

Dixon was Osage County's sheriff when the incident at Hartsburg's Hitchin' Post occurred but resigned his job at the end of May 2016.

Last summer, Dixon surrendered his state peace officer's license. State officials said he cannot get it back.

Boyd said Dixon currently is working in another state.

He got stuck in traffic and didn't attend Tuesday's hearing, Boyd said.

Daniels said she won't "order" him to be at the Aug. 8 pre-trial hearing, but told Boyd that Dixon should be at the hearing.

"Many issues could come up that he may wish to be advised of," she said.