Man accused of pulling gun on police gets bond reduction
Incident occurred Dec. 30
A high cash bond was reduced Friday to personal bond for a Royal Oak man charged with assault with a dangerous weapon after police say he pointed a rifle at an officer who went to his house.
The incident happened Dec. 30 at the house of defendant James Moss, 34, in the 900 block of Mayfield while police said they were investigating a complaint from a woman.
Moss was arrested and charged with felony assault and firearm charges. He was arraigned before an Oakland County District
judge on New Year’s Day and jailed on $150,000 cash bond.
Moss’s attorney, Neil Rockind, successfully argued at a hearing before Royal Oak 44th District Judge Derek Meinecke on Friday that Moss’s bond be reduced to personal bond.
“He has no prior record and no prior contact with police,” Rockind said, noting Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald has discouraged cash bonds. “Mr. Moss is a college graduate with a master’s degree and is professionally employed.”
Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Meaghan Williams made no objection to Moss’s bond reduction.
Moss got out of jail after shortly after his arrest through a bail bond agency. He now has a $150,000 personal bond, meaning he would only have to post that amount if the court found him in violation of his bond conditions.
One of those conditions is that he not possess any firearms or dangerous weapons.
Police went to Moss’s house about 9:30 p.m. Dec. 30 following a complaint from a woman who met Moss for dinner at his house and brought a dish.
Police said Moss was intoxicated and he and the woman, 28, argued and she left. She told police she returned to the house to get her dish back, but Moss refused to give it to her. The woman then called police.
An officer knocked on Moss’s door and the suspect brandished a rifle when he answered, police said.
He is accused of pointing the rifle at the officer and telling him to get off his porch, police said after they arrested Moss.
The suspect complied when police ordered him to come out of his house with his hands up.
Police said they confiscated more than a dozen firearms from Moss’s house. Moss has a concealed pistol license, his attorney said.
Rockind tried to get Judge Meinecke to issue an order prohibiting Royal Oak police from contacting Moss, and to contact Rockind in any communications.
Sometime after Moss was released from jail, Rockind said police were called to the area near Moss’s house.
A neighbor reported hearing two shots fired from Moss’s house, Rockind said.
Police arrived, but the complaint was a false alarm, the attorney said.
“They talked to the (neighbor) and he wasn’t sure it came from the house,” Rockind said.
“Police determined it was fireworks from two blocks away.”
Williams countered that police have a right to talk to Moss in other public safety matters they may be investigating.
“There is no basis for the court to order police to have no contact with Mr. Moss,” she said.
Judge Meinecke agreed, saying that even if the police talked to Moss about anything involving his current case while investigating another unrelated incident the information gleaned in such an exchange would be barred from use in court by law.
A date for Moss’s preliminary examination hearing in Royal Oak on the evidence in his case is pending.
The felony assault charge against him is punishable by up to four years in prison. The firearm charge is a two-year felony.