Mar. 13—A 40-year-old rural Joplin man received a suspended sentence and probation when he pleaded guilty this week to possession of a controlled substance in a plea deal dismissing a related felony count of domestic assault.

Rickie L. Thompson pleaded guilty to the drug charge Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court in a plea bargain dismissing a count of second-degree domestic assault, capping the sentence he might receive at no more than five years and promising that the state would not oppose the possibility of a suspended sentence.

Circuit Judge Gayle Crane accepted the plea deal and granted Thompson a five-year suspended sentence with five years of supervised probation.

The charges stemmed from an arrest Oct. 31, 2022, following a domestic disturbance at the defendant’s home on Choctaw Lane. A deputy called to the scene found Thompson’s wife in tears inside a vehicle behind their residence.

A probable-cause affidavit states that she had a cut on the bridge of her nose and other marks on her face and told the deputy that Thompson had slapped and hit her multiple times, bit her nose and choked her. The affidavit states that in the course of arresting Thompson for the alleged assault, a bag of methamphetamine was found on him.

Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.