photo by: Allen County Sheriff's Office

Jayce Tyler Ingham

A preliminary hearing in Douglas County District Court for a man charged with attempted murder was continued on Monday after the alleged victim in the case said she lied to Lawrence police.

Jayce Tyler Ingham, 36, of Iola, was charged with two felony counts of attempted murder and one misdemeanor count of criminal damage in connection with an incident on Dec. 2, 2022, near the intersection of Clinton Parkway and Crestline Drive around 7:50 p.m when Ingham is alleged to have yanked the steering wheel of a moving vehicle in which he was a passenger in an attempt to kill the other people in the car, one of whom was a 17-year-old boy, as the Journal-World reported.

Ingham was set for a preliminary hearing Monday at which the state would have presented evidence that a crime had occurred and that there was probable cause to believe Ingham had committed the crime.

The first witness to testify in the hearing was the driver of the vehicle. Chief Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Tatum asked the woman if she remembered the day of the incident, to which the woman replied that she didn’t remember it very well.

The woman said that she and Ingham were driving and arguing about something and that she eventually had to call 911, but she couldn’t remember what they were fighting about or why she called 911.

Tatum asked if listening to the 911 call would refresh the woman’s memory, and the woman said it might but that she didn’t want to listen to it. Tatum asked if what the woman told the 911 operator the day of the incident was true, to which the woman said “yes,” but when Tatum asked if the statements she gave to police on the scene were true, the woman hesitated and said “no.”

After hearing this, Ingham’s attorney, Branden Smith, objected to the woman’s testimony and said that the court needed to appoint the woman an attorney and that Ingham’s hearing should be stopped.

Tatum said she was surprised by the woman’s statement and that it did not reflect the conversations she had with the woman prior to the hearing and that the woman was trying to avoid testifying against Ingham. Judge Stacey Donovan appointed Cooper Overstreet to represent the woman and allowed the remaining witnesses present to testify.

The boy who was in the car then testified that he too could not remember much of the incident. He said that the woman and Ingham were arguing that day and that Ingham was nearly blackout drunk. He said he didn’t remember why the two were fighting or what they were doing in Lawrence.

He said he did remember that Ingham was so drunk that they had to stop at a bank somewhere in Lawrence and the boy had to help Ingham into the bathroom because Ingham was having trouble standing and walking. He said Ingham was able to hold himself up at the bathroom stall.

The boy said that after the bathroom break is when the incident happened and that he does not remember much. He said at some point Ingham kicked out the rear passenger window of the vehicle and that the fight between Ingham and the woman came to a climax when Ingham got behind the woman driving and said he would crash the car.

The boy said he doesn’t remember if Ingham actually grabbed the wheel but the next thing he remembers is the van was stopped. After the van stopped he said he got out of the van and walked away because he “needed some space” to calm down. He said he stayed out of the van long enough for police to arrive so the woman wouldn’t drive away.

The Lawrence police officer, Grant Foster, who spoke to the boy the day of the incident on the scene, then took the stand and testified that when he arrived at the intersection of Clinton Parkway and Crestline Drive, a black Honda Odyssey van was stopped in the middle of the intersection and was pointed at a metal pole that holds the stoplight.

Foster said the rear window was broken out and two people were outside of the vehicle about 10 yards away. He said that Ingham was lying down in the back of the vehicle and that when he approached Ingham said to leave him alone and that he was napping.

Foster said Ingham told him that police would have to drag him out of the vehicle, but Ingham eventually complied and was taken into custody without further incident.

After arresting Ingham, Foster took a statement from the boy, who told him that Ingham had finished three-quarters of a bottle of whiskey that day before spilling on himself and throwing the bottle out of the van. Foster said the boy told him about the broken window and the argument that Ingham was having with the woman. The boy said that Ingham got behind the driver and yelled, “I’ll crash this car,” and the woman said, “Go ahead and do it,” and Ingham reached for the driver’s wheel, Foster said.

The boy then said Ingham grabbed the wheel, pulled it hard to the right, and the van turned straight for the stoplight pole. Foster said the boy told him that day that he thought he would die if the car hit the pole but that the woman was able to “hit the brakes” in time to stop the van.

After the testimony, Donovan ordered Ingham to reappear in court Tuesday for a status conference to determine how to move forward now that one of the witnesses had been appointed an attorney and her testimony was in question.

Ingham has been in custody on a $60,000 bond since his arrest.