Joplin man granted probation on domestic assault plea
May 13—A 26-year-old Joplin man took a plea offer Monday on two domestic assault cases he had pending and received suspended sentences and probation.
Jalen M. Chandler pleaded guilty in Jasper County Circuit Court to second-degree domestic assault and to resisting arrest from a January 2022 arrest. The plea agreement dismissed a related count of leaving the scene of an accident and felony counts of domestic assault, burglary, drug possession and resisting arrest from an arrest in 2021.
The plea deal called for suspended sentences of seven years for the domestic assault and three years for resisting arrest. Judge David Mouton accepted the plea bargain and placed Chandler on supervised probation for five years.
In the 2022 case, Chandler was the driver of a pickup truck a police officer attempted to stop when he recognized the defendant and knew he had an outstanding warrant. A pursuit at speeds exceeding 85 mph ensued, ending with the defendant's truck crashing into a utility pole.
A probable-cause affidavit states that a passenger in the vehicle — identified as Chandler's girlfriend — suffered serious injury in the crash.
The same girlfriend had been the victim in the 2021 burglary in which he had allegedly forced entry to her home and assaulted her with a vacuum sweeper. He purportedly led police on a high-speed chase that time as well before crashing and fleeing on foot. Police allegedly found more than 100 grams of marijuana and several other forms of marijuana he left behind in the vehicle.
