On Monday, January 7, 2013, BRENDA LAMB, d/o/b 2-10-1968, of Hollister, was found guilty by a six-man, six-woman jury of assaulting a law enforcement officer in the third degree and resisting arrest, in the Circuit Court of Taney County. The jury deliberated for just over an hour before reaching its unanimous verdict.
During the trial, evidence was presented that, on the night of November 23, 2011, Lamb made efforts to interfere with efforts by Hollister Police Officers to arrest her son, Mark Anthony Lamb – who was a fugitive from justice with active Taney County warrants. Upon being told she was under arrest for interfering with officers, Lamb threw a cellular telephone at one of the officers, striking him in the groin. Lamb, who testified in her own defense, tried to explain that she was not facing the officer when she “tossed” the phone over her shoulder. Lamb also testified that she did not resist arrest, in any way.
Lamb was charged by the Taney County Prosecutor’s Office with the felonies of assaulting a law enforcement officer in the second degree and resisting arrest. After hearing the evidence and deliberating, the jury found Lamb guilty of the lesser charge of assaulting a law enforcement officer in the third degree, but still found Lamb guilty of felony resisting arrest – as charged. Assaulting a law enforcement officer in the third degree is a class A misdemeanor, carrying a maximum sentence of one (1) year in the county jail and/or a $1,000.00 fine. Felony resisting arrest is a class D felony, with a maximum sentence of four (4) years in the Missouri Department of Corrections and/or a $5,000.00 fine.
Circuit Court Judge Mark Orr scheduled sentencing in Lamb’s case for March 21, 2013.