PROVO — A Las Vegas man continued his protests that charges of assault and aggravated assault stemming from an alleged attack upon the mother of his child and her same-sex partner, were "malicious" and "discriminatory." But when he appeared in court Wednesday, prosecutors slapped him with another charge — failing to register as a sex offender.
"I went to law school, I'm not a dumb person," said 42-year-old Anthony Earle. "This is malicious prosecution and this is discriminatory prosecution."
According to police, Earle traveled to Orem from Las Vegas on Oct. 12, 2002, to see his newborn daughter and his girlfriend, who had broken up with him a year prior. According to a probable cause affidavit filed in 4th District Court, Earle allegedly head-butted his ex-girlfriend and forced her to drive to an Orem restaurant to meet her girlfriend.
Upset over the nature of their relationship, police say Earle attacked the two women, dragging them outside the restaurant. The second woman was knocked to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked in the face, suffering broken teeth, a concussion and numerous lacerations. The victim said she required plastic surgery to correct some of the damage to her face.
Earle was arrested and later charged with one count each of aggravated assault, a second-degree felony, and assault, a class B misdemeanor.
In court Wednesday, Judge Fred Howard urged Earle to retain a public defense attorney after he insisted on representing himself during what was to be a preliminary hearing.
Howard continued the hearing until May 2 to give Earle and Utah County public defense attorney Tom Means a chance to conduct discovery. Earle had earlier protested that prosecutors would not give him copies of police reports as part of his efforts to prepare for the hearing.
In past hearings, Earle vowed to take a past judge before the judicial conduct commission and to file complains against prosecutors with the Utah State Bar Association.
Deputy Utah County attorneys Jeff Buhman and John Easton said in investigating Earle, who had served prison time for a past conviction, they learned that Earle was a sex offender who had failed to register his current whereabouts. According to the Utah sex offender registry, Earle last reported his address in February of 2001, listing an apartment in Provo. Since then, Easton said, Earle has submitted addresses in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas to the court.
Easton said Earle was listed as a sex offender following a conviction for aggravated exploitation of a prostitute in 1984.
In court Wednesday, prosecutors charged Earle with one count of failing to register as a sex offender, a class A misdemeanor.
"You're pressing baby," Earle said to Easton in court. Earle then turned to Judge Howard protesting, "That's malicious. Here's the prosecution attempting to stack stuff up."
Howard advised Earle to direct his statements to his attorney and scheduled a hearing on the new charge for April 28.
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