Man attacks female guard at breakfast

A Madison attorney serving a 12-day jail sentence for shooting a rifle at a neighbor’s dog in 2018 has since been charged with aggravated assault of a corrections officer and escape after allegedly attacking a female guard as she was serving him breakfast on Friday. 

Barry Wade Gilmer, 77, was initially charged with disturbing the peace and discharging a firearm in April 2018, arguing that he was defending his property from his neighbor’s dog.

Madison County Justice Court Judge Lloyd Spivey sentenced him to serve 12 days in jail, in addition to a $1,000 fine for the discharging of a firearm. Spivey fined Gilmer $500 and sentenced him to serve six months in jail for disturbing the peace, though that sentence was suspended. 

Gilmer fought the sentence before the Mississippi Court of Appeals ended Gilmer’s battle forcing him to jail. Constables picked him up on Jan. 24.

On Friday, Sheriff Randy Tucker said Gilmer attacked a guard while she was serving breakfast. 

According to Tucker, the guard turned around to get a tray off the cart and that’s when Gilmer attempted to get out of his jail cell. 

“She tried to keep him from opening the door,” Tucker said. “He got the tray away from her and hit her with it. He then grabbed her by the hair and back and the neck. He bent her over and was uppercutting her in the face.”

Tucker said other guards then came in and had to deploy a Taser on Gilmer because he wouldn’t show his hands. 

He said when Gilmer first arrived for his brief sentence, “there was no indication he was going to give us any trouble.”

The guard suffered a fractured collarbone, broken rib, facial contusion, and a possible busted eardrum.

Gilmer has since been given a bond of $750,000 for the assault charge and a $1,000 bond for the escape charge. He remains in custody at the Madison County Detention Center.