A Glenwood man who knocked out the county sheriff during a jailhouse scuffle was among the defendants sentenced Monday in Pike County Circuit Court.
James L. Short Jr., 27, pleaded guilty to second-degree battery and terroristic threatening related to the incident. He also pleaded guilty to the original battery charge that landed him in the county jail.
Short was sentenced to a total of 15 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC) with three years suspended.
The incident involving Pike County Sheriff Travis Hill took place Sept. 3 at the jail.
According to case information, Short was in the jail on the unrelated felony battery charge when he was issued citations for battery and disorderly conduct for altercations in the jail with other inmates. The copies of the citations were left on his bunk while he was in the shower. Short questioned the charges and then stated, “I guess I’m gonna get in another (expletive) fight right now” and attached another inmate for no reason. Short allegedly hit and kicked the inmate several times and was trying to stomp his head when jailer Will Harberson intervened. Short also claimed he was being provoked by jailer Tiffany Walton and “she’s going to get it next.”
A short time later, Sheriff Hill went to the cell and Short reportedly lunged at him and punched the sheriff in the face, knocking Hill into the wall before hitting him at least two more times in the face. Sheriff Hill also hit his head on the wall and a speaker box and went to the floor unconscious.
Short was taken to the floor and handcuffed by officers and while on the floor stated he would haunt Sheriff Hill for the “rest of his days” and also threatened to assault the sheriff again.
