Clay Waller's son jailed on domestic charge

Clay Waller's son was arrested Monday on a domestic assault charge, online court records show.

James Clay Waller III, 21, was charged in October with one count of third-degree domestic assault.

Cape Girardeau County Jail records show he was arrested and later released Monday.

The younger Waller waived arraignment and pleaded not guilty Monday afternoon on the misdemeanor charge, online court records show. A counsel status hearing in the case is set for Jan. 6.

James Clay Waller III, who goes by J.C., is the son of Clay Waller, who on June 6 pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and two counts of tampering with evidence in connection with the June 1, 2011, death of his estranged wife, Jacque, whose body was found May 29 in Alexander County, Ill.

The elder Waller is serving a 20-year sentence for his wife's murder.

On Sept. 1, J.C. Waller's ex-girlfriend, with whom he has a 5-month-old child, told police he began swearing at her, called her an obscenity and spat on her, according to a probable-cause statement filed by patrolman Jeff Lucas of the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

The ex-girlfriend said J.C. Waller was upset because she was filing for full custody of their child, Lucas wrote.

She "further stated Waller keeps sending her text messages harassing her and calling her names. Waller also keeps pouring soda on her car and doing anything to make her feel uncomfortable," Lucas wrote.

The reason for the gap between the Sept. 1 report and the Oct. 10 filing of charges was not clear, but Darin Hickey, public information officer for the Cape Girardeau Police Department, said that kind of lag time is not uncommon in misdemeanor cases.

"That's not surprising," he said.

Police take a report and turn it over to prosecutors, who then decide what type of charges, if any, to file, Hickey said.

Prosecutors typically give felony cases a higher priority than misdemeanors, he said.

No one in the Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney's office was available for comment Tuesday afternoon. Prosecutors typically do not comment on pending cases.

Online court records show no prior arrests for J.C. Waller, but in 2012, he received Jackson tickets for peace disturbance and fighting outside the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse during a recess in his father's preliminary hearing.

Video and photographs at the time showed J.C. Waller and a prosecution witness, Matt Marshall, throwing punches at each other and Marshall falling to the ground.

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