photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured in March of 2022. The center houses the Douglas County District Court and other county services.

A Lawrence man went on trial twice this week in front of two Douglas County juries and was convicted of multiple felonies related to property damage and assaulting law enforcement officers.

Both trials were interrupted by violent outbursts from the defendant, who struck and spit on his attorney, had to be carried aloft from the courtroom by five deputies, and finally had to be fitted with a stun cuff, a device used to shock a defendant into compliance.

The defendant, John Timothy Price, 34, faced multiple counts of felony aggravated assault, criminal damage and battery on law enforcement in connection with two incidents in September of 2021. The court selected two juries on Monday for two one-day trials.

The first trial began on Tuesday. Price faced felony aggravated assault charges and misdemeanor criminal damage charges for allegedly throwing brick pavers at passing cars, breaking windshields and forcing drivers to flee, near the intersection of Ninth and Iowa streets on Sept. 12, 2021.

Price said that he was very anxious at the start of the trial, before the jury was brought in. He requested to sit somewhere other than the defense table. Judge Stacey Donovan denied Price’s request but granted a short recess for Price to gather himself.

During the recess, Price began pacing around the courtroom and shouting before he struck his defense attorney in the abdomen and spit in her hair, according to court security deputies. Two sheriff’s deputies in the room quickly tackled him and additional court security ran into the room to help subdue Price.

Price was taken to a holding area and fitted with a spit mask before he was returned to the courtroom, where Donovan asked if he would be able to continue.

“I don’t need to do nothing but stay melanated,” Price said as he started kicking and wrestling with the five deputies who were holding him in place. The officers then picked Price up and carried him out of the courtroom backward as he shouted, “We can do this all day.”

Donovan then asked the defense if they wished to continue, and appointed defense attorney KiAnn Caprice said Price’s first trial must continue because of its implications for other cases still pending. Senior Assistant District Attorney David Greenwald said that it might be better if the trial continued with Price not present.

“He has not made it through an evidentiary hearing, he was gesturing at jurors in the hall, and he called me a crybaby just now,” Greenwald said.

Donovan ordered Price to participate in a preliminary hearing in June from a video conference room instead of from the courtroom after he was repeatedly disruptive during the hearing.

On Tuesday, Price was later returned to the courtroom without the spit mask or handcuffs and was allowed to remain in the courtroom the rest of the day. Price was compliant through the rest of the day but for a few interruptions when the prosecution was questioning witnesses.

In closing arguments, Caprice argued that, regarding the brick-throwing incidents, multiple witnesses claimed they weren’t afraid for their safety but were more upset that their cars had been damaged; she said that if people weren’t afraid of being hurt by the bricks, then the felony assault charges should be dismissed and Price should only be liable for misdemeanor criminal damage.

The first trial concluded Tuesday and the jury deliberated through the morning on Wednesday. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on two felony counts of aggravated assault but found Price guilty of the remaining charges, two additional counts of aggravated assault and three counts of misdemeanor criminal damage.

The second trial began Wednesday, and Price was facing four counts of criminal damage, two misdemeanor counts of battery against a law enforcement officer and one felony count of interference with a law enforcement officer for breaking windows at Commerce Bank, 955 Iowa St., Crimson and Brews Bar, 925 Iowa St., QuikTrip, 900 Iowa St., and an apartment off of Sixth Street, on Sept. 9, 2021, before being confronted by police. When officers arrived, Price allegedly slapped one officer in the face and wrestled with other officers.

Before noon on Wednesday, Price created another disruption with the jury present and was removed from the courtroom. When he returned, Price was wearing a stun cuff, over which a deputy in the room had control.

The stun cuff, intended to not be visible to the jury, deterred Price from additional physical outbursts, though he continued to interrupt the judge, the prosecution and his own attorney.

Price repeatedly attempted to have his attorney removed from the case following his outbursts, and he asked to admit his disciplinary form, which he was given after he had struck and spit on his attorney the day before, into evidence for the jury to see. The judge denied his requests.

In closing arguments in the second trial, Caprice asked the jury to disregard Price’s behavior in the courtroom and to focus on the law and the evidence.

Greenwald reminded the jury that in the Sept. 9, 2021, incident Price is on body camera video and can be heard spitting on an officer and can be seen slapping another officer.

The jury deliberated the second case for about four hours on Thursday and convicted Price on three counts of criminal damage, two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and one count of interference with law enforcement.

After the trial, Price was returned to the Douglas County Jail, where he has been in custody since his arrest. He is next scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 28, 2023, for a scheduling conference to determine a date for sentencing and for a status update on another charge of battery on a law enforcement officer that he received in September 2022 while at the jail.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has refused to provide a booking photo of Price, and Donovan rescinded permission she had given the Journal-World to take photos when Price began being disruptive in the courtroom.