TEXARKANA, Ark. - A man who fled the Miller County Courthouse after being sentenced to 20 years for a drug crime in 2015 was sentenced Wednesday to an additional 25 years in prison for escape.
DaRoyce Eugene Rodgers, 38, must serve the 25-year term for escape after he completes the 20-year sentence he received for possession with intent to distribute cocaine on March 31, 2015, Circuit Judge Brent Haltom ordered.
The jury acquitted Rodgers of two counts of battery involving court security officers who were knocked to the floor as they attempted to stop him.
Shortly after being sentenced in 2015, Rodgers was allowed to give his mother a hug.
Witnesses testified that Rodgers knocked his mother down as he jumped a railing separating the court audience from the judge's bench and tables for the defense and prosecution. As officers grasped at Rodgers, he lost one of his white loafers and dropped a pocket Bible.
Rodgers bolted from the courtroom, out of the courthouse and into downtown Texarkana.
The bailiffs who were toppled during the melee suffered a minor cut and a sprained ankle, which Little Rock lawyer Jordan Tinsley argued didn't rise to the level of battery as defined by Arkansas law.
Rodgers was arrested in Dallas in September 2015 by U.S. Marshals with a handgun in his possession.
The years passed as Rodgers dealt with charges in Texas. In 2018 he was returned to Arkansas custody. As Rodgers was already serving the 20-year sentence, other cases took priority on the court's trial schedule and the pandemic created further delays.
Deputy prosecuting attorneys Teresa Severns and Jeffery Sams represented the state. Severns said the verdict shows what the citizens think of convicted felons who choose to run instead of facing consequences.
"I would like to thank the jurors for their time, consideration and the verdict they rendered in this case," Severns said. "This verdict shows that the defendant's conduct will not be tolerated in Miller County."