A 36-year-old Minnesota man is being held at the Lewis County Jail following accusations he choked a woman out, slammed her head against a wall and attempted to destroy her phone to prevent her from calling police.
According to court documents, Jordan Paul Hanson was on probation for domestic violence charges in his home state and did not have permission to leave Minnesota.
That’s according to his probation officer, who said he has victimized others and that he is a flight risk, according to court documents.
The latter opinion also came to light during Hanson’s initial appearance in Lewis County Superior Court on Friday, where Judge Joely Yeager set bail at $500,000. She did so after Hanson, appearing via a video feed from the Lewis County Jail, interrupted the hearing in protest of claims that he was a flight risk who might not appear in court for future hearings if he were released from jail with unsecured bail.
“I didn’t flee,” he said. “I had a flight to see my (probation officer) this morning … Never missed a court date.”
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Bradley Meagher seized on the statement, noting that he had admitted his ability “to just fly around the country,” which was added evidence he was a flight risk, highlighting the need for the requested $500,000 bail.
Hanson also took issue with not being eligible for assigned legal counsel, meaning that because he makes money above the statutory income level, he’d have to pay for his own attorney.
Meagher said he had personally spoken to the victim and that she was concerned for her safety and wanted a protection order in place.
Defense attorney Rachael Tiller, who represents most defendants during their initial court appearances, took issue with the claims against Hanson, saying she could find proof of no felony criminal history and that Hanson has been in the area for five weeks, with plans to stay for five more weeks.
She said just because someone makes criminal allegations, it doesn’t mean they are true. She said Hanson would be happy to abide by a protection order in place for the victim because he has been “trying to end the relationship for months.” She also noted that a truck the victim requested the keys for does not belong to her and that the victim does not work, with Hanson supporting them through his work on wind turbine projects.
She asked for unsecured bail of no more than $10,000.
Yeager said she didn’t “have any confidence whatsoever” that Hanson would abide by release conditions, noting he disobeyed the Minnesota restrictions by leaving the state.
Yeager went with the prosecutor’s office request and set bail at $500,000 after deliberation and outlining the factors she considered, which came down to his history of domestic violence and her belief he would not abide by the court’s conditions of release.
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by the prosecutor’s office, Chehalis police officers were dispatched to 182 Exhibitor Road, No. 12, at about 9:20 p.m. Oct. 21 after a report from a woman who said she had been in a verbal dispute with Hanson, her boyfriend, and that he had left.
When the officers arrived, the victim told the officer that, on Oct. 5, Hanson was drunk. She said he thought she was on the phone with the police, so he grabbed her phone and tried to break it.
“The victim wrote in her domestic violence statement that Jordan slammed her head against a wall and choked her ‘until I almost blacked out,’” the affidavit states.” When she tried to phone the police, Jordan headbutted her.”
The headbutt split the skin above her right eye, causing a two-inch laceration, and resulted in a large scar over her right eye that was still visible on Oct. 21 when the officers were taking her statement, the affidavit states. The victim provided the officers with a photo of the laceration as it appeared on Oct. 5.
Officers couldn’t locate Hanson at the time, so they told the victim to call 911 when he returned.
At about 5:30 a.m. Oct. 22, the officers were again dispatched to the same address after the victim reported Hanson had arrived.
An officer went to the location and placed Hanson under arrest.
He is charged with second-degree assault (domestic violence), a class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, and interfering with domestic violence reporting, a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.
He’ll appear in court again next week for an arraignment and trial setting hearing.
