Man pleads guilty to assaulting corrections officer.

Dan Smith appears in 27th Circuit Court via Zoom video conferencing.

Man pleads guilty to assaulting corrections officer.

By Allison Scarbrough, Editor.

HART — A 35-year-old Rothbury man pleaded guilty in 27th Circuit Court Monday, Feb. 22, to one count of assaulting a prison employee.

Daniel Arthur Smith, 7792 S. 80th Ave., testified that he “resisted an officer that attempted to secure him in his cell.”

“I was kind of blacked out a little bit,” Smith said.

The incident occurred at the Oceana County Jail, March 5, 2020 after Smith was arrested for domestic violence and lodged in the jail. He originally faced two counts of the charge for assaulting two male guards, but one of the counts was dismissed in a plea agreement.

Smith will be sentenced to 18 months probation, and if he successfully completes his probation, the prosecutor’s office may reduce his conviction to a misdemeanor assault, said Oceana County Assistant Prosecutor Chad DeRouin. 

Any up-front jail time will be determined by Judge Robert D. Springstead. He will be ordered to pay $1,084 in restitution to the Oceana County Sheriff’s Office, said DeRouin.

A psychological evaluation determined that Smith is competent, said his attorney James Marek.

Sentencing is set for May 3 at 8:50 a.m.

Assaulting a prison employee is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

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