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Marion County deputies arrested Steven Lawrence Manson Sr. on Thursday morning, eight days after a circuit judge revoked his bond and ordered him held without bond in a conspiracy to commit rape case.
Manson, 56, of Yellville, was booked at 7:35 a.m. Aug. 13 by the Marion County Sheriff’s Department, according to the county jail roster. The roster lists his bond at $0 and shows a single charge of felony failure to comply. He is set to appear in Marion County Circuit Court on Aug. 18.
That court date puts Manson in the same courtroom on the same morning as his son, Steven Michael Manson Jr., who has a status hearing scheduled across six pending criminal cases.
Circuit Judge Andrew S. Bailey revoked Manson’s bond on Aug. 5 and directed the clerk to issue an arrest warrant, ordering him held with no bond until a hearing. The order followed a motion filed that morning by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Russo, who argued Manson had picked up a new felony case while awaiting trial. Bailey signed the order about two hours after the motion was filed.
The warrant was issued inside the existing case rather than as a new one. It lists Manson’s March charges and carries the failure to comply label that appears on the jail roster. No separate contempt or failure to appear case has been opened against him.
Russo’s motion cited Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 9.6, which allows a court to revoke release when a defendant is charged with a felony committed while free on bond. The motion also stated that law enforcement had documented recent travel by Manson to Missouri and Illinois. The state asked that any future bond carry an ankle monitor and a condition barring him from leaving Arkansas.
The new felony case stems from a July 30 search of Manson’s home at 761 County Road 8054. In an affidavit filed that day, Marion County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Silas Gibson wrote that investigators seized about 22 containers and bags holding 8.71 pounds of suspected marijuana from a black tote, packaged and labeled in a manner consistent with sale and delivery. Investigators also reported taking three handguns from a safe.
Manson was arrested that afternoon on charges of possession of marijuana with purpose to deliver, three counts of possession of firearms by certain persons and a habitual offender enhancement. Circuit Judge Johnnie Copeland set his bond at $50,000, and he was released the same day. That case does not appear on the jail roster entry for his current booking.
The underlying case dates to March. An information filed March 13 by Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge charges Manson with conspiracy to commit rape, a Class Y felony, along with terroristic threatening and coercion. Manson is not charged with rape itself.
The filing also seeks a habitual offender enhancement under the Arkansas Habitual Offender Act, alleging Manson has four or more prior felony convictions in Illinois. A Class Y felony carries a sentence of 10 to 40 years or life.
According to the information, a woman filed a complaint with the sheriff’s office on March 7 saying she had been raped at the County Road 8054 home. She told investigators two days later that a friend had driven her to the residence, where she was raped by Manson’s son and step-granddaughter while Manson and the friend were outside feeding animals.
The woman said Manson met her outside afterward, gave her marijuana and brought her back into the house. She reported overhearing Manson and her friend agree they could also have sex with her, and hearing Manson say they should stab her to death afterward so she could not tell anyone. She told investigators she heard him take a knife from the kitchen.
The woman fled to a neighbor’s home and was treated at Baxter Health in Mountain Home, where she underwent a sexual assault forensic exam. An initial report from the hospital described injuries consistent with the assault, according to the filing.
Copeland recommended a $25,000 bond in that case in March, with a condition barring contact with the alleged victim.
Manson Jr. and Dezarae Shae-Lynn Manson are charged separately in connection with the same March report. The three are not being tried together, and each has a separate case number.
All three were represented by Little Rock attorney Eugene P. Clifford until late July, when he moved to withdraw from every Manson case, citing a conflict of interest under Rule 1.7 of the Arkansas Rules of Professional Conduct. Bailey granted the motions and gave each defendant 30 days to hire a new lawyer, after which the court may appoint counsel from the Marion County Public Defender’s Office.
Manson has no attorney of record. His status hearing in the March case remains set for Oct. 13.
The Observer will continue to follow the case.
