Dixon's Boone County case still set for Wednesday

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.

Former Osage County Sheriff Michael Dixon's attorney has asked Boone County Associate Circuit Judge Deborah Daniels to hold a jury trial on the charge he used a weapon unlawfully while he was intoxicated.

The case had been set for an eight-hour, judge-tried trial Wednesday.

A court staff member said the judge had seen lawyer Travis Noble Jr.'s jury trial motion, which was filed Thursday morning.

Daniels intends to take up that motion at the beginning of Wednesday's hearing.

If she approves the motion, Daniels likely would set a new trial date. If she denies Noble's request, the hearing could go on as scheduled.

Last April, Boone County prosecutors charged Dixon with a Class D felony for unlawful use of a weapon while he was intoxicated - a crime that carries a possible prison sentence of up to four years.

However, in November the prosecutors reduced that charge to a misdemeanor.

The charge is that, on March 5 in Hartsburg, Dixon "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 reportedly occurred but resigned his job at the end of May.

Last July 15, Dixon admitted to St. Louis County Circuit Judge Ellen Ribaudo - in a different, 2014 case - his being in the Hartsburg bar last March violated his probation following a guilty plea to harassment in 2012 and '13.

Conditions of that probation had included not drinking and not being in a bar unless he was on official sheriff's business.

Ribaudo fined Dixon $1,000 for the probation violation then closed the books on the 2014 case.

Last summer, Dixon surrendered his state peace officer's license - and cannot get it back.