Twelfth Judicial Circuit Judge Diana L. Moreland ruled against a Holmes Beach general contractor who requested contact with a victim he’s been accused of choking and restraining.
Richard Scott Eason, 29, was arrested in November after his girlfriend, who’d been living with him in the 500 block of 74th Street, called police twice to report Eason’s attack, according to a Holmes Beach police report.
In a Jan. 5 motion, Sarasota attorney Peter Collins filed Eason’s request, stating that the victim “is desirous of having contact with the defendant and would support the court modifying the defendant’s condition of release to no-harmful contact.”
Assistant State Attorney Jeffrey H. Siegal said the victim testified Jan. 15 to the facts of the Nov. 13 incident.
Her testimony also revealed she had agreed to the proposed modification after Eason’s attorney contacted her.
“We’re pretty happy about it,” said Siegal of the judge’s decision to keep the no-contact order in place.
The prosecutor said Eason physically prevented her from getting out of the vehicle, and that a video tape shows the severity of the attack.
At Eason’s first appearance Nov. 14, the court ordered no contact with the victim. The order also required Eason to submit to random urinalyses, not take illegal drugs and not drink alcohol.
All of the original release conditions still apply to Eason, Siegal said.
HBPD initially charged Eason with a domestic battery, possession of cocaine and bringing the drug into the jail. In December, the prosecutor added false imprisonment, strangulation and criminal mischief charges, but dropped the charge for introducing cocaine into the detention facility.
After the new charges were filed, Eason turned himself in, according to Siegal.
He was re-arrested Jan. 12, booked in jail and released the same day after posting $3,620 in bonds.
At The Islander’s press time, calls to Eason’s new attorney had not been returned.
His arraignment on the new charges is set for 8:55 a.m. Friday, Jan. 23, at the Manatee County Judicial Center, 1051 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.