GATE CITY – Almost seven months after it was filed, a 2024 assault case against Scott County Sheriff Jeff Edds, Sr. has been dismissed.
Substitute General District Judge M. Frederick King dismissed Ashlii Nicole Edds’ misdemeanor assault complaint against her father-in-law after the approximately 45-minute hearing in which she, the sheriff and her husband, Jeff Edds, Jr. testified about the events of Sept. 1.
A hearing on the case had been delayed since September, when all of the 30th Circuit judges and Scott County commonwealth’s Attorney Kyle Kilgore recused themselves from the case.
Craig County Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Dunne was the second special prosecutor appointed to handle the case after Pulaski County Commonwealth’s Attorney Justin Griffith discovered a potential conflict of interest in the case.
Ashlii Edds testified that Edds, Sr. allegedly grabbed her by her shoulders and pushed her out of the Gate City house she co-owned with Edds, Jr. during a period when the couple was contemplating divorce.
Ashlii Edds and Edds, Jr. both testified that they had a verbal agreement not to be in the house at the same time whenever she came by to retrieve personal belongings. She testified that, on Sept. 1, she had texted Edds, Jr. earlier that day to say she would not be coming by because of rain.
Later, according to a criminal complaint she filed two days after the incident, Ashlii Edds said she came to the house and found some of her and her daughter’s belongings in the yard before entering the house to find Edds, Sr.
Edds, Sr. testified that he first knew his daughter-in-law was in the house when she came through the door as he was going out to get something from his truck.
“I knew they had issues … things would get heated,” Edds, Sr. testified. “I didn’t push out no door.”
The sheriff and Edds, Jr. each said there were no court or protective orders barring Ashlii Edds from being at the residence.
Edds, Sr. testified that, if he had been at the house as a law enforcement officer, “I’d be separating them.” He later said he had no intention of hurting her.
“I didn’t try to push her out the door,” Edds, Sr. said. “I went out first to check on her daughter.”
Edds, Jr., said he was in the kitchen at the opposite end of the house when he heard the incident, adding that he did not see what happened.
Matthew Dunne asked Edds, Sr. if he would do anything for his son.
“Not anything,” Edds, Sr. replied.
In closing statements, Dunne said Ashlii Edds had the legal right to be at the residence on Sept. 1. He argues that Edds, Sr.’s position as a law enforcement officer did not give him the right to escort her from the property.
“The situation did not escalate until she was denied access,” Dunne added.
Tim McAfee, Edds, Sr.’s lawyer and a former Pound Police Department officer, said, “As an official, if something happened, I’d intervene.”
Edds, Sr., left the house first, McAfee argued.
King said he agreed with Dunne’s argument that Ashlii Edds had legal access to the house on Sept. 1.
“The history of marital bliss is just as full of marital discord,” King said, adding that evidence and testimony showed the couple did have an agreement not to be in the house at the same time.
King said he was concerned more about Edds, Sr.’s role as a father than as a law enforcement officer.
"(Edds, Sr.) touched her, no question in the court’s mind,” said King, “but the question is intent. I’m not prepared to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”