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James Clay Waller III faces domestic assault charge; victim claims he was knocked unconscious
James Clay Waller III, 32, of Jackson, has been charged with third-degree assault on allegations he lured a man to a location and injured the victim in a fight.
The victim told police on May 5 that Waller sent the victim text messages while pretending to be someone else, according to a probable cause statement signed by an officer whose name is redacted. The victim told police Waller was angry over his girlfriend and when the victim realized he had been talking with James, he tried to run away from Waller. But Waller caught the victim and allegedly punched the victim on the left side of his face and head, knocking out the victim and leaving him with several injuries, the probable cause document claims. The victim told police he had pain in his neck, jaw, head and chest. He also told police he couldn’t fully open his mouth or chew food.
The document claims that Waller was previously charged twice with third-degree domestic assault, once with fourth-degree domestic assault and twice with unlawful use of a weapon. He was convicted of third-degree assault and was on supervised probation at the time of his recent arrest, according to the probable cause statement.
Waller is being held in Cape Girardeau County Jail in lieu a $25,000 bond issued by Judge Frank Miller.
Waller is the son of James Clay Waller II who was sentenced in 2013 for the second-degree murder of his wife Jacque, who was killed in 2011. Waller II strangled and beat Jacque Waller to death after she had arranged a meeting with a divorce attorney. Clay Waller II dug a grave on an island in the Mississippi River, where he buried his wife in a hole he dug the day before. The murder left their 5-year-old triplets without a mother. While convicted of second-degree murder and initially sentenced to 20 years, Waller II was eventually sentenced to 35 years in prison on charges of interstate domestic violence. In a manuscript Waller authored in prison, he wrote that his love for his children and his unwillingness to separate from them was the motive for the murder.