Judge approves bond reduction for reputed Joplin Honkies member facing felony weapons, assaulting a police animal charges

Judge John Nicholas granted a bond reduction for reputed Joplin Honkies member Jared Prier today during a hearing today in Jasper County Circuit Court and reduced it all the way to nothing.

Online court records indicate Nicholas agreed to reduce Prier's bond from $1,000 cash only and said he could be released on his own recognizance.

Prier was also being held without bond for a probation violation on February 2016 convictions for assault and abandoning a corpse.

Prier's latest charge, the weapons count, came following a July 14 traffic stop in which Joplin police officers found a handgun and marijuana in his vehicle.







At the time of the arrest, Prier was free on $3,000 bond on felony charges of resisting arrest, driving while revoked and assaulting a police animal following a June 22 police pursuit.

At the time of his alleged crimes Prier was on probation after being handed a seven-year prison sentence in February 2015 by Newton County Circuit Court Judge Tim Perigo for assault and abandonment of a corpse in connection with an incident in which Prier shot one man twice in the stomach, shot at a woman and abandoned the body of a third person, a crime that became evident when Prier and his co-defendant posted a photo on Facebook of themselves with the corpse.

During the investigation of that case, Newton County law enforcement noted Prier was a member of the Joplin Honkies gang, as was the dead man.

Prier's seven-year sentence came just 26 months after Perigo sentenced him to seven years in prison after Prier pleaded guilty to felony assault, then suspended the sentence and placed him on probation for five years.

Prier's next hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. September 3.