UPDATE: Mississippi lawmaker Douglas McLeod found not guilty of domestic violence

Mississippi Rep. Douglas McLeod was found not guilty of domestic violence Tuesday, after his wife unexpectedly took the stand and testified on his behalf.

Michele McLeod said that on the evening of May 18, her husband had drunk less than two tumblers full of wine and mixed them with prescription-strength Ibuprofen. She said he was “in a state of delirium” when one of his limbs, “probably his arm,” hit her face.

George County Justice Court Judge Mike Bullock said, before making his verdict, that he could understand how the hit could have happened accidentally after her testimony.

In response to Tuesday's verdict, House Speaker Philip Gunn released this statement:  

“This whole situation is still very concerning, not only to me, but to many other members of the House of Representatives. The court may have found Representative McLeod not guilty, but as a member of the Mississippi Legislature to find yourself in this situation – it is still an issue. As we have done with other matters, we will refer this to the House Ethics Committee for further consideration.”

Body-camera footage from a responding George County sheriff’s deputy also was shown in court Tuesday.

The footage showed Michele McLeod crying and heaving as a deputy escorted down the stairs of her home by a friend who called 911 minutes earlier. There was blood down her nose, around her mouth and covering her hands.

“Where is he? Where is he?” she asked Deputy Robert Karg as he walked her outside.

He assured her that her husband,Douglas McLeod was not in the yard or near the deputy’s vehicle.

“He’s drunk,” Michele told Karg as the camera rolled.

The Republican lawmaker was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence the night of May 18.

McLeod, who deputies say had been drinking, was accused of punching his wife in the nose in their bedroom. Michele McLeod refused to cooperate and testify in the case after she received a subpoena from prosecutors.

Michele McLeod’s friend, Magen Merrill, was at the McLeod home that night and was staying upstairs, caring for the couple’s puppy, Finn.

Merrill testified that Michele McLeod ran into her room with a bloody face, saying her husband, who had been drinking wine for hours, hit her in the face for not undressing quickly enough for sex.

Body-camera footage later captured Michele McLeod telling Karg that her husband gets angry at her when he’s under the influence of alcohol. An example she gave was her working too much.

“Anything can trigger him to get like that,” she told Karg. “He lost it. He gets like that when he drinks too much.”

Merrill, Karg and 911 dispatcher Christy O’Brien testified before the lunch break in Judge Mike Bullock’s courtroom.

Assistant District Attorneys George Huffman and Bobby Knochel have focused on the 911 calls by Merrill and Karg’s body camera footage.

Merrill had locked the bedroom door and blocked it with her body, refusing to let Michele McLeod out to wash her face until authorities arrived.

When O’Brien made a third contact with Merrill, asking Merrill to go downstairs to meet Karg at the door, Michele McLeod can be heard on tape with Merrill. Both would not come down because Douglas McLeod was beating on the door.

Douglas McLeod opened the door for Karg and said “Are you kidding me?” when Karg told him why he was there. After walking back inside the house, McLeod returned outside and said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, man.”

Karg said McLeod was drinking out of a glass that smelled like “wine or alcohol.”

Defense attorney Christoper Dobbins focused on the three police reports produced in the case. While on the stand, Karg testified that Michele McLeod told him she was hit because she was not undressing fast enough for sex, mirroring what Merrill testified to earlier in the morning.

Dobbins, however, questioned if Karg was mixing up details because the explanation about undressing for sex was not in the deputy’s report that the defense attorney referenced to in court. Karg testified his body camera was turned off when he did additional interviews with Michele McLeod about the incident.

In another police report obtained by the Sun Herald after the incident, Karg’s report does say that Michele McLeod confirmed she was hit because she was undressing too slowly.

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