Appeals court reverses Huntsville man’s resisting arrest convictions

A Randolph County man had his conviction for resisting arrest overturned on Tuesday by a higher court.

The Western District Court of Appeals reversed a jury’s verdict convicting Shaytwin Smith of misdemeanor resisting arrest. Smith’s arrest was captured on Facebook Live, and the video shows him writhing in between two law enforcement officers as they took him off his porch.

A Huntsville police officer and a Missouri State highway patrolman sought Smith as a suspect in a car crash that happened near his Huntsville home on June 2, 2016, and arrested him on his porch for leaving the scene of an accident and driving while suspended. Smith denied being at the scene, as he began live streaming the situation.

An officer ordered Smith put his hands behind his back, but Smith instead stood up, took his shirt off, tossed a knife to the side and put his hands above his head.

“I ain’t armed. I ain’t got no weapons,” Smith said, as he continued to argue with officers about what proof they had.

Rowe pepper-sprayed Smith and later testified that Smith presented “passive resistance,” and allowed them to arrest him.

Prosecutors charged Smith with resisting arrest for throwing his body to the ground as officers walked him away from the porch and toward the car. A jury convicted Smith on Oct. 21, and a judge sentenced him to two years of probation and ordered him to complete an anger management course.

The appeals court decision said Smith’s conduct, or anyone’s conduct after an officer has arrested them cannot be considered resisting arrest. The law said that resisting arrest only applies when a person is “using or threatening the use of violence or physical force or by fleeing from the officer.” The court said that Smith’s actions prior to the time he was put in handcuffs never rose to that level.

“Smith did not run, touch either of the officers or verbally threaten to harm the officers, and Trooper Rowe described Smith’s conduct as ‘passive resistance,'” wrote Judge Edward Ardini.

Smith’s attorney, Ellen Flottman, said she was happy with the decision.

“I am very pleased with the decision, which followed a similar case handed down recently by the Missouri Supreme court in April — State v. Ajak,” Flottman said. “In that case, as in this one, the Court determined that conduct following the point at which the arrest was effectuated was irrelevant to a resisting charge.”