Judge orders suspect be removed after laughing
A Chattanooga man accused of shooting the mother of his child and kidnapping his son laughed during witness testimony Tuesday at his preliminary hearing, leading the judge to send him back to a holding cell.
“Take him back to the jail cell,” Hamilton County General Sessions Court Judge Gary Starnes said, ordering court officers to take Ronald Spence out of the courtroom Tuesday morning. “I’m not going to listen to this.”
Spence, 30, who is still in custody at the Silverdale Detention Center after his October arrest, could be seen snickering, mouthing words and even laughing as witnesses gave their testimonies during Tuesday’s preliminary hearing. Starnes and court officers told Spence several times throughout the hearing to stand still, face forward and to be quiet.
“I was trying to talk to her,” Spence said, referring to his attorney, Emily Roberts.
Roberts apologized to the court for Spence’s outburst, but he was still taken away.
Spence is facing an attempted first-degree murder charge, as well kidnapping, burglary, assault and gun charges in connection with a Sept. 9 incident in which he allegedly kicked in the back door of his son’s mother’s apartment after an argument over the phone, according to a Chattanooga Police Department arrest affidavit.
After further arguing in the house, Spence allegedly took out a firearm and pistol-whipped the woman before she ran out of the apartment in the 2000 block of South Lyerly Street in Chattanooga to seek help, according to the victim’s testimony.
As she was knocking on a neighbor’s door, Spence allegedly followed her with the firearm in his hand and told her to be silent.
“He told me to be quiet, so I went quiet, but he still shot me,” the victim said in court as Spence snickered.
When asked how many times Spence shot her, the victim said Spence shot her five times, further testifying that she suffered gunshot wounds to the lower abdomen, left arm and left leg.
The victim was taken to Erlanger hospital for treatment, according to the police affidavit and her testimony Tuesday.
Spence allegedly took his son with him and tried to carjack a neighbor before he jumped a fence and carjacked a resident on Kelly Street, authorities said. That victim testified of receiving injuries to both ankles that required surgery and follow up treatment.
Spence’s son was found unharmed in bushes on Kelly Street, according to testimony by Chattanooga Police Officer Terry Barnes.
Judge Starnes dismissed the theft charges and bound all other changes over to the grand jury.