Jury trial continued after defense witness balks at testifying in aggravated battery case

OREGON – A jury trial scheduled to begin this week was delayed until December after a defense witness refused to come to court.

The trial of Jeremy G. Jones, 42, of Byron, was scheduled to begin Oct. 17 and estimated to last two days.

He is charged with two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, stemming from a Dec. 31, 2022, incident in the 200 block of Route 26 in downtown Forreston in which he is accused of hitting one person with his car and stabbing another.

Jones’ attorney, William Gibbs, filed a motion Monday asking for the continuance, stating that a material defense witness indicated in a phone call that she would not appear in court despite being subpoenaed.

In the motion, Gibbs said she used an expletive and said “I’m not coming, you can arrest me, I don’t care.”

When he reminded the witness through text messages that she was required to attend and did not receive a response, he filed the emergency motion to continue, court records indicate.

The woman called was present during the incident and has given statements that contradict some of those given by witnesses the prosecution plans to call, Gibbs said.

“This motion is made proactively to to avoid possible inconvenience of jurors and the court in the event a motion is is required upon her failure to appear,” he wrote. “The defendant will be severely prejudiced if the trial proceeds in her absence.”

Judge John Redington granted the continuance over an objection by Assistant State’s Attorney Matthew Leisten.

Tuesday, the witness appeared in court and Redington continued her subpoena to Dec. 19-20 and ordered her to appear at the trial.

Jones pleaded not guilty in January after a preliminary hearing at which Ogle County Patrol Deputy Matthew Gendusa said he responded to an altercation at 10:40 p.m. Dec. 31 in which one person reportedly was stabbed and another was hit by a vehicle.

Gendusa said a woman told him she was driving her truck on state Route 26 when a sedan began tailgating her near Forreston. She told him she “brake-checked” three times before pulling the vehicle into a parking lot at Josh’s Saloon, he testified.

A male passenger exited her truck and approached the sedan, exchanging words with the driver, who was Jones. The man told Gendusa that Jones sped up and hit him, prompting the woman to try to stop the vehicle by grabbing at the driver’s side window.

Gendusa said he later learned that she was stabbed in the shoulder and required stitches at Freeport Hospital, and the man suffered a concussion after falling down when he was struck by the sedan.

Only prosecution witnesses testify at preliminary hearings, which are held so the judge can determine if there is probable cause to charge someone.

In closing arguments at the January hearing, Gibbs said Jones was defending himself from “people who jumped out of their car” and started screaming at him, and that “there was a woman hanging on to his car trying to attack him.”

Leisten said Jones had a knife when he was stopped by another deputy after the incident.

Jones initially was arrested for attempted first-degree murder, but those charges were revised after the state’s attorney’s office reviewed reports and spoke with law enforcement.

Prosecutors also dismissed a felony charge of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, two counts of unlawful possession of cannabis, speeding and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

Redington set a motion hearing for Nov. 9 and a final pretrial hearing for Dec. 13.

Jones remains free on $50,000 bond.