David Eason is off the hook for the criminal charges he was facing for his alleged 2023 assault of Jenelle Evans‘ then-14-year-old son Jace.
The Ashley can exclusively reveal that both charges pending against David— felony Assault by Strangulation and Child Abuse— were dropped at his court hearing on Monday.
According to The Ashley’s in-court reporter, David was present in court, but Jace, Jenelle and Barbara were not.
“David was dressed much-nicer today than his past court hearings,” the reporter says. “But he showed no emotion the whole time.”
The case has been continued a ridiculous number of times already, and the prosecution asked for another continuance at Monday’s hearing, stating they wanted to get more background info from Jace, Jenelle and Jace’s grandma Barbara.
“The prosecutor explained that Jenelle, Barbara and Jace were not cooperating in the case anymore. She stated that they had previously been cooperating but that changed within the last week or so. The prosecutor asked for another continuance so that they had time to get more info.
The judge was not having it, though, and stated that yet another continuance would just be “kicking a can down the road” yet again.
David’s attorney brought up the fact that David has moved a few times to different states during this ordeal but still managed to attend every court date or meeting he needed to. (As you know, David moved from North Carolina to Nevada earlier this year to shack up with Jenelle when they reconciled. He and Jenelle then moved to Florida together in June, but now that they have broken up again he is back in North Carolina.)
David’s attorney also brought up the fact that Jace has been in “multiple” facilities since the alleged incident. (He was careful to stress that they were “psych” facilities, according to The Ashley’s court reporter.)
Following that, David’s public defender asked that, because Jenelle & Co. are no longer cooperating, the case be settled today. The judge agreed and dismissed both of David’s charges. Although a deputy from the Columbus County Sherrif’s Office had been subpoenaed to appear at the trial on Monday, he did not end up testifying.
“The whole court hearing was over in 10 minutes,” The Ashley’s court reporter stated.
David has always maintained his innocence in the case. Jenelle has also vehemently denied (even as recent as this year) that David ever assaulted Jace, telling someone on Facebook in June that David’s assault on Jace “never happened.”
Just to remind you, the case all began back in September 2023, when Jace told police he ran away from Jenelle and David’s home on The Land because David allegedly assaulted him. Barbara revealed to the cops what Jace— who was 14 at the time of the alleged attack— told her about David allegedly assaulting him.
David was first charged only with misdemeanor child abuse but went on to receive the felony “Assault by Strangulation” charge several months later after it was determined that Jace had visible injuries from the alleged assault. In North Carolina, a victim must have sustained physical injury in order for the alleged assaulter to be charged with ‘Assault by Strangulation.’
In his March 2025 court filing for his divorce case with Jenelle, David gave his version of events for the night of the alleged attack on Jace in 2023.
“[Jace] has behavioral issues and mental instabilities and has threatened to harm himself and others and runs away from [Jenelle’s] home on a frequent basis,” David wrote in his court paperwork. “It is further admitted that [David] has had to constrain [Jace] from time to time in the past due to the minor child carrying around weapons in his pockets and continuously attempting to run away from the care of [Jenelle].”
Anyway, now that David’s criminal charges have been dropped in the case, the protective order barring him from being around Jace should also be dropped. (The Ashley wasn’t able to confirm this with the court yet, however.)
David, Jenelle and Barbara have not released any public statements regarding the case dismissal.
The Ashley will continue to update this story. Stay tuned…
RELATED STORY: Jenelle Evans Claims David Eason Never Choked Her Son Jace, Despite David’s Pending Criminal Felony Charges: “That Never Happened”
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