By Derick Bischoff
The Courier-Times
NEW CASTLE, Ind. — A Henry County jail inmate expressed threatening words after his court hearing on Tuesday.
According to a police report, Joseph A. Curnutt from Straughn was being escorted from a pretrial hearing back to the Henry County Jail by Deputy Justin Holmes when Curnutt shouted an expletive, and then said, “If I had a gun, I would gun them all down! I would trip and say my finger pulled the trigger!”
Deputy Holmes believed Curnutt was referring to Circuit Court 1 Judge Mary Willis and two attorneys working on the case, Henry County Public Defender David Sadler and David McCord, deputy prosecuting attorney.
During the pretrial hearing, Curnutt was belligerent and created multiple disturbances, according to a police report. His jury trial is set for Monday.
Curnutt was warned if any inappropriate behavior takes place during the trial on Monday, such as an outburst, profanity, gestures or refusal to respond to the court, it will result in him being removed from the courtroom and the hearing held in his absence, according to a case report.
Deputy Holmes called Judge Willis and informed her of the remarks Curnutt made at the jail. According to a case report, Willis didn’t wish to take criminal actions against him, but a report was filed and the remarks would be addressed at the trial. Curnutt will have his foot shackled during the trial proceedings.
Curnutt was originally arrested on July 20, 2012, on two counts of battery resulting in bodily injury, Class B felony and a Class D felony.
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