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.

Updated at 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023:

A homeless shelter resident who was granted probation after attacking a couple in downtown Lawrence in May was ordered on Monday to stand trial for an alleged armed assault in the same area in August.

The man, Deonte Darrell Jackson, 34, is charged in Douglas County District Court with one felony count of aggravated assault using a knife, according to charging documents. The charge relates to an incident near the intersection of Ninth and Massachusetts Streets on Aug. 24, as the Journal-World reported. Jackson’s address in the jail’s booking log is the Lawrence Community Shelter, 3655 E. 25th St.

The victim testified at Monday’s preliminary hearing that he was delivering food and supplies to a nearby restaurant in a large delivery truck, and as he was walking up the ramp of his truck to retrieve a load of boxes he noticed a man running up the ramp behind him.

“I had somebody run up on me aggressively and pull a knife,” the man said.

But first Jackson called him an expletive as though he and Jackson knew each other, the man said. He told Jackson to back up and that people are not allowed in the company’s truck.

A few seconds later Jackson pulled a large knife from his jacket, the man said. Part of the knife was wrapped in a bandana, he said. In response, the man pulled his own knife that he uses for cutting open packaging on his delivery route.

“I felt like either I was going to be stabbed or stab somebody,” the man said.

The state, represented by Assistant District Attorney Samantha Foster, showed the man a picture of two knives that police said they recovered from Jackson when he was arrested. The photo showed one folding pocket knife, and the other was a sheathed blade about three times as big as the pocket knife, wrapped with a black bandana and tape.

The man identified the larger knife as the one that Jackson had that day and said he had never seen the smaller knife.

The man said that after he pulled his own knife, Jackson backed away to a nearby sidewalk and began yelling and waving the knife at him. The man said he then called the police as Jackson began walking away.

Because he didn’t want to lose sight of Jackson, he began following him down Massachusetts Street while he was on the phone with police.

He said Jackson was moving fast but not running and that he lost sight of him near an alley on Eighth Street.

Investigators were able to identify Jackson as a suspect and arrest him later that day, police said at the time.

Judge Stacey Donovan said Monday that enough evidence existed to order Jackson to stand trial on the assault charge. She scheduled his trial for Dec. 11.

Jackson is currently being held in the Douglas County Jail on a $25,000 cash or surety bond.

The assault charge marks the fourth case filed in Douglas County against Jackson in 2023. He was recently granted probation in connection with an unprovoked attack on a couple near the intersection of 10th and Massachusetts streets in May. Jackson did not use a weapon in that attack. The police released a video of the incident that showed Jackson crossing the street and approaching the couple, striking the man multiple times and knocking the woman into the wall before nearby pedestrians intervened.

Jackson was originally charged with two felony counts of aggravated battery in connection with that incident and one misdemeanor count of criminal damage, but the court did not find probable cause to bind him over on the felony charges, and the state refiled the charges in the case as two misdemeanor battery charges and one count of criminal damage, according to court records.

As part of a plea agreement, Jackson pleaded guilty to the battery charges and the criminal damage charge was dismissed; he was sentenced to a total of 12 months in the county jail, and that sentence was suspended to 12 months of probation on Aug. 10, according to court records.

Jackson also had a separate plea agreement that resolved two misdemeanor cases, according to court records. One of the cases was an assault charge from Feb. 13, to which he pleaded no contest; the other was a charge of interference with law enforcement for an incident on April 5, which was dismissed as part of the agreement.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office declined to release Jackson’s booking photo.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Jackson’s previous cases were resolved through multiple plea agreements.