Third charge of assault on ex-girlfriend dismissed

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·1 min read

Oct. 5—The Jasper County prosecutor's office Thursday dismissed all domestic assault charges on a Neosho man arrested three times this past summer in the physical abuse of an ex-girlfriend.

Gabriel Z. Martin, 26, was scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Jasper County Circuit Court on one remaining count of second-degree domestic assault and a resisting arrest charge.

Martin had been accused of assaulting Tara L. Fleming, 29, three times in less than a month. He was facing three counts of second-degree domestic assault and single counts of burglary and armed criminal action in addition to the resisting arrest charge.

But charges in two of the three arrests were dismissed previously, and the prosecutor's office was forced to dismiss the third domestic assault charge Thursday when the ex-girlfriend again did not come to court to testify against Martin.

Probable-cause affidavits state that Martin hit Fleming multiple times and threatened her with a hammer July 18. He was arrested but posted bond July 26 and entered her residence without permission the following day while she was in the shower and began tearing up the place. She confronted him, and he purportedly punched her in the abdomen and legs, and tried to smother her with a pillow before threatening her with a shotgun.

He remained at large following the second assault and attacked her a third time Aug. 12, slapping, punching and choking her, according to the affidavits.

Martin waived a hearing Thursday on his lone remaining count of resisting arrest and was ordered by Associate Judge Joseph Hensley to stand trial. He also still faces a felony child abuse count in Newton County.