A trial has been canceled for a Baker City man accused of kicking a Baker City Police officer in the head and arm, and trying to bite two officers, during a Jan. 9 incident.

Jacob David Thomas Smith, 34, was slated to go to trial before a 12-person jury on Tuesday, April 29.

The trial was canceled after Smith’s attorney, Robert Whitnah, withdrew from the case.

Whitnah cited a “breakdown in relationship” with Smith in his April 22 motion to withdraw. Judge Matt Shirtcliff in Baker County Circuit Court granted Whitnah’s motion the same day.

Smith’s next court appearance, a status check hearing, is set for May 5 at 11:15 a.m. in circuit court.

Smith has been in the Baker County Jail since March 3, when he was arrested for violating the terms of a release agreement. He had been released from the jail in January after posting $5,500 bail. His current bail is $75,000, and he could be released by posting 10% of that amount.

A Baker County grand jury on Jan. 16 indicted Smith on one felony count of assaulting a public safety officer, and five misdemeanor counts — two counts of attempted assault of a public safety officer, resisting arrest, third-degree escape and second-degree disorderly conduct.

On March 10, Smith’s mother, Debra Grant, wrote a letter to circuit court stating that Smith is “mentally ill” and that his family believes that for the past three years he “has been suffering with the onset of schizophrenia. We are really trying to find a facility and doctors that can treat him correctly for his mental illness. I know for a fact that if Jacob could receive the help he truly needs, that he will be an upstanding citizen and a very respectful man. That’s exactly what my son used to be.”

Grant asked the court to release Smith, writing that she would be responsible for him.

Whitnah filed a motion on March 13 seeking Smith’s release.

Shirtcliff denied that motion on March 14, but he reduced Smith’s bail from $250,000 to $75,000.

The incident

According to a probable cause affidavit written by Baker City Police officer Mason Powell, the incident started around 9:18 p.m. on Jan. 9 when an employee at the Geiser Grand Hotel called police to report an intoxicated man who “was being aggressive, yelling and racist towards him and other people in the establishment.”

The man was identified as Smith, and he left the hotel, according to Mason’s affidavit.

About 20 minutes later, a resident called 911 stating that a man was “screaming crazily” outside her home in the 1300 block of Elm Street, near its intersection with Grace and Estes streets.

The woman, who was home with her children, told Powell she was scared enough to “obtain a gun.”

Powell wrote in his affidavit that he had seen Smith walking south near Resort Street and Auburn Avenue minutes before the woman’s call.

Around 9:14 p.m., about 37 minutes after the woman’s 911 call, another caller reported seeing a man who matched Smith’s description “jumping/stomping on utility boxes and trying to tear down a stop sign near Resort and Valley.”

Powell wrote that while he was searching for Smith, two men stopped him in the 1700 block of Washington Avenue, in front of the Baker Garage dealership, and told him that a man who matched Smith’s description had been screaming and throwing the dealership’s advertising flags into the street.

Powell wrote that he saw multiple flags in the streeet and on the sidewalk.

At about 9:25 p.m. he saw Smith on the sidewalk in the 1700 block of Washington. Powell wrote that he parked his patrol car in front of Smith, got out and told Smith “he was under arrest numerous times.”

Powell wrote that Smith ignored him and kept walking.

Powell wrote that he grabbed Smith, took him to the ground and handcuffed him. Smith then “started screaming, threatening my life, kicking and trying to stand up,” Powell wrote.

Powell wrote that he told Smith to stay on the ground, but Smith “raised a leg up and kicked me in the right side of the head and right arm, causing multiple areas of bruiding, discoloration and light abrasions on my bicep and forearm area.”

Powell wrote that he “delivered a closed fist strike to (Smith’s) chin area and he stopped resisting.

Powell then drove Smith to the emergency room at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center. There, Smith “became verbally combative and was actively walking around,” Powell wrote.

He wrote that Smith threatened to kill him and tried to bite Powell multiple times.

Powell wrote that another officer, Koby Essex, arrived to help, and that Smith tried to bite Essex.

According to court records, on Oct. 26, 2024, Smith allegedly fled from Powell, who tried to arrest Smith for violating a restraining oder in Baker City.

Powell later arrested Smith. That charge is still pending.