Defendant represents himself at trial
Murphy – A local man courageously represented himself at trial last week; however, bravery alone was not enough to persuade the jury.
Jason Loyd Swint, 37, never claimed to be innocent and didn’t put up much of a fight against allegations of drug possession. He didn’t call any witnesses to testify and offered no other evidence during his case-in-chief.
When the judge asked whether he wanted to testify on his own behalf, Swint initially said, “Yes.” Moments later, he changed his mind. “Nah, I don’t want to testify,” he said.
Police arrested Swint on the evening of May 7, 2019. Murphy police Officer Justin Dockery encountered him in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Cool Springs Street while responding to a call about a woman being held against her will.
Dockery testified that he detained Swint after the reporting party said someone involved in the incident was headed toward a vehicle. Dockery told jurors domestic kidnapping is a high-priority call that could affect officer safety; therefore, he placed Swint in handcuffs before checking him for weapons.
During the frisk, Dockery found a glass smoking pipe containing a substance later confirmed to be methamphetamine.
“He said he forgot it was there (in his front pocket),” Dockery recalled, adding that Swint also admitted the pipe contained meth when asked about the clear, crystalline substance in the bowl.
Dockery further told the court that he did not see any weapons upon encountering the defendant, who was courteous during the investigation. Swint used that testimony to argue he was no threat to law enforcement and implied police had no probable cause to search him.
In response, assistant district attorney Kimberly Harris argued that police have authority to briefly detain and frisk someone who is suspected of criminal activity. Dockery testified that he was trained he could detain a suspect, even absent any threat, in the interest of officer safety.
“This is not a difficult case; this is factually very simple,” Harris told jurors during closing arguments. “The defendant had meth on his person, in his pocket. Beyond that, the defendant admitted it.”
During his closing statements, Swint kept it brief. He argued there was no reason for Dockery to believe he was in danger and implied the frisk was unlawful, an argument that should have been settled with the judge before trial.
“But other than that, you have all the evidence in front of you,” he said.
Jurors announced they had reached a verdict less than nine minutes after entering the deliberation room, before the court clerk had delivered them a printed copy of jury instructions. As they re-entered the courtroom, Swint wiped tears from his eyes.
Jurors convicted Swint of felony meth possession and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Since Swint lacked criminal convictions, a judge imposed a 6-17 month suspended sentence on the felony charge, with 12 months of supervised probation.
Swint received a 45-day sentence on the misdemeanor charge, to run consecutively if he is ever incarcerated within the next year. Swint will not have to serve prison time if he abides by certain conditions, which includes a substance abuse assessment and 24 hours of community service.