Osage County Sheriff Michael Dixon's hearing Thursday in St. Louis County has been changed to a probation violation hearing instead of a request to end his two-year probation a couple months early.
Boone County officials this week charged Dixon, 29, of Belle, with unlawful use of a weapon, a Class D felony that could include a prison sentence of up to four years if there's a conviction.
The Boone County Sheriff's probable cause statement said Dixon was in the Hitching Post, a Hartsburg bar, on March 5, and "while consuming alcoholic beverages, (he) drew a loaded, concealed handgun from his waistband and unlawfully and negligently pointed the loaded firearm at a male subject."
The statement said two witnesses reported Dixon was intoxicated when he drew his weapon.
Also, the statement said, the man was "sitting down and did not attempt to make any aggressive moves toward" Dixon.
The Boone County statement only named Dixon and didn't identify the man or the two witnesses.
The part of the law used to charge Dixon says it's a felony to have "a firearm or projectile weapon readily capable of lethal use on his or her person, while he or she is intoxicated, and handles or otherwise uses such firearm or projectile weapon in either a negligent or unlawful manner ..."
However, the incident happened while Dixon still was serving a two-year probation for his 2014 guilty plea to misdemeanor harassment for incidents that happened in Belle in 2012 and 2013.
The probation order included the state's general conditions, including obeying all laws and reporting any arrests.
His probation conditions also required him to "not possess or consume alcohol nor be in a business the primary purpose of which is the sale of alcohol, except to carry out (the) duties (of) a law enforcement officer."
Now-retired Judge Richard Bresnahan ordered the supervised probation on July 1, 2014, after reaching a plea agreement with then-Special Prosecutor John Beger.
The case had started in Osage County, but was moved to St. Louis County on a change of venue.
Following a Missouri Highway Patrol investigation, Beger in 2013 charged Dixon with a felony - taking a four-wheel vehicle on June 26, 2013, even as the owner told him not to - and with four misdemeanor counts, including harassment, stalking and first-degree sexual misconduct or, in the alternative, third-degree assault.
The plea agreement involved a guilty plea only on the harassment charge.
A misdemeanor conviction means Dixon didn't have to give up his Missouri Peace Officer's Standards and Training (POST) certificate - required for him to do his job - and the Public Safety department's decision to revoke that certificate was blocked in a Cole County circuit court case, with Judge Jon Beetem ruling the state had denied Dixon a fair hearing.
State law says a felony conviction means an automatic revocation of an officer's certificate.
Although the Boone County sheriff's office had investigated the Hartsburg incident since it occurred March 5, Dixon wasn't arrested or charged until Wednesday.
On March 31, Dixon's attorney - Travis Noble Jr., of Clayton -filed a motion seeking early termination of the probation, saying the sheriff "has successfully complied with all special conditions of probation and had no other violations of his probation."
Noble did not respond Friday to a request for a comment for this story.
Beger was the Phelps County prosecutor and now is a circuit judge.
St. Louis County Circuit Judge Ellen Ribaudo, Bresnahan's successor, named current Phelps County Prosecutor Brendon Fox as Beger's successor in the special prosecutor's role.
Fox told the News Tribune on Friday he has not "reviewed anything" connected with the Boone County case yet, so he hasn't "filed a motion to revoke" Dixon's probation or any other motion in the case.
"I still need to review reports and make a decision on what to do," he explained.
Fox expects Thursday's hearing will be a meeting to set a hearing date, giving him and Noble time to prepare for a revocation hearing.
"I would have to subpoena witnesses for the hearing so that would take time," he said. "Also, there is a discovery process that would need to be completed."
Dixon is in the last year of his first term as Osage County sheriff and is not running for re-election.