Dixon, lawyer no-shows for court date

Then Osage County Sheriff Michael Dixon is interviewed in early 2015 outside the Cole County Courthouse after a hearing.
Then Osage County Sheriff Michael Dixon is interviewed in early 2015 outside the Cole County Courthouse after a hearing.

Although he and his attorney were not in the courtroom Wednesday, Boone County Associate Circuit Judge Deborah Daniels set a May hearing to lay down ground rules for a potential jury trial for former Osage County Sheriff Michael Dixon 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.

"I didn't expect to do a bench trial today," Daniels said Wednesday, "but I am not sure what I was supposed to do when the defense does not show in court."

The judge had seen Dixon's jury trial motion, which attorney Travis Noble Jr. filed last week, as well as another document filed late Tuesday, but had hoped to hear more details from both sides in the case about what could happen in the future.

Assistant Prosecutor Brock Jacobs told Daniels he understood Noble would be available in May for an appearance. Jacobs said he believed there was "a prospect to work this out."

Daniels set a pre-trial hearing for May 16, when attorneys for both parties are to discuss pre-trial motions and other matters related to a possible trial.

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

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 2013.

Conditions of that probation had included not drinking and not being in a bar unless 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.