Former sheriff Michael Dixon pleads guilty in Boone County court

Former Osage County Sheriff Michael Dixon has pleaded guilty to a peace disturbance misdemeanor in Boone County court.

By pleading guilty to the amended charge and paying a $500 fine, Dixon avoids a jury trial on a misdemeanor unlawful use of weapon while intoxicated charge.

He was originally arrested on felony weapons charges after he was accused of waving a gun in the air while intoxicated at a Hartsburg bar in 2016. No one was injured.

Assistant Boone County Prosecutor Brouck Jacobs said proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Dixon was drunk at the time would have been hard to do since they could only prove definitively that he had had three drinks. Since the incident was reported weeks after it happened, Dixon had not been tested for blood alcohol level.

“The toughest thing for us to prove in a trial is that the standard under the weapons statute for intoxication is substantially impaired,” he said. “In this case, we would have been able to at best prove that he had had three drinks and we wouldn’t have been able to meet that standard.”

Additionally, Jacobs said they couldn’t prove if the gun was loaded either.

Dixon was not in court Tuesday morning. His attorney, Grant Boyd, said he was traveling on business and wasn’t required to be there because they submitted a written plea.

Since his arrest, Dixon’s charge was amended twice. He was originally arrested on charges of felony unlawful use of a weapon while intoxicated but those were amended to misdemeanor unlawful use of a weapon. In court Tuesday, both sides agreed on Dixon’s new plea for a peace disturbance.

“It wasn’t something we expected from day one,” said Boyd. “This came about leading up to the moment and we came to that resolution relatively shortly before today’s court date.”

Dixon resigned as sheriff shortly after he was charged. Jacobs said their main takeaway is that Dixon will no longer be allowed to be a law enforcement office in Missouri.

At the time of the incident, Dixon was on probation after pleading guilty to harassing a female Belle police officer in 2013. He is no longer on probation.