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.
UPDATE: The Ashley would like to clarify a few things, based on some comments she’s read on social media about this story regarding Barb, Jenelle and Jace not cooperating in the case. Jenelle has never cooperated in this case, and has always insisted David didn’t commit these crimes against Jace. (Even when she hated David, she still maintained this.)
As for Barbara and Jace no longer cooperating, this was likely said because Jace had declined to testify, and Barbara was backing that decision. According to what The Ashley’s sources have told her, Jace just wants to move on from this case.
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”
(Photos: MTV; TikTok; Instagram)
[…] Evans has released a statement regarding her ex-husband David Eason‘s criminal charges being dismissed on Monday, with the fired ‘Teen Mom’ star telling her followers on X that she never […]
what an absolute. utter. disgrace. for every single despicable ‘person’ involved (minus jace, of course).
it is literally mind-boggling how this disgusting ogre (swamp king 🧟♂️👑) manages to slither his way out of any sort of consequences for his vile actions. 🤷🏼♀️
it won’t be best because then hes a legal adult. Now he has some protections in place, but if he acts and behaves in certain ways when he turns 18 no one is legally obligated to provide, support, house, or educate him. Lets not pretend Jace is an angel. He is 100 percent a product of his environment but no one cares once hes 18 and he needs to get his act together or he will be spending time in the clink. I wish him well, but its absolutely up to him to change his behavior.
Jenelle not showing up is whatever, but why the hell didn’t Barbara and Jace show up?
David will be docking the boaterhome in Florida by Friday.
Please can you delete the post from Sarah M
Thank you 🙂
Why does the court system hate children?!
Fuck the NC justice system, this judge, David, Jenelle, and their lawyers. Fuck the public defender for bringing up the fact that Jace has been in multiple psych facilities – gee, I wonder why?
My heart sank when I saw the headline. As usual, he got away with it.
WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is frickin insane! What about the ring camera evidence?! Jace deserves justice but I’m wondering the same thing as the other comments, maybe he just wants to move on but this is so F**K UP! How can this man get away with that much violence and complete disregard for the law?! He said he has had to restrain Jace but there were marks on his neck. That’s not restraining someone, that’s assault. I’m so frickin pissed.
I’m so fkn sick of these 2 always getting away with everything. It’s absolutely disgusting.
maybe confidential informants
What a huge, disgusting disappointment!!!! Jenelle kept Jace in mental facilities for this outcome! I’m sure her lawyer told her that if she wanted to protect the walking venereal disease, she would need to be sure and convince the court that Jace was un-stable. THAT’S why she had that poor kid locked up! That fucking bitch cares more about the man who spent years abusing her kids, than she does anything else in the world. Now she will go on to win the custody case and poor Jace will have to go back to this skank and most likely David!! Because she will let him come back now and she will claim it’s for Enesly! What the fuck is wrong with our legal system, letting a man with a huge history of abuse and most likely sex abuse, get away with it all?
1) Of course David didn’t show any emotion. Sociopaths don’t have them.
2) I never thought that I could think of something more sickening and disgusting than Jenelle but congratulations to this court system. You win. 😡🤢
WTF- everyone should contact that judge!
North Carolina courts suck. Where is justice for abused children in that state? David will be back in FL soon and I hope Jennelle calls 911 on him there because FL don’t play around with abusers.
Looking like Ronald Cummings , get’s out of everything for 20 years.
David is from the camp that says that straight white men are the most persecuted in this country, and yet here he is, once again facing no consequences for his crimes. It’s soul-crushing to think this cretin for once could be held accountable for something, especially something this heinous. I wish that every single day for the rest of his life, David has the day he deserves.
Let’s be real. Jenelle was never going to cooperate in this case. Jace no doubt has been threatened up and down by his mother and David by proxy to not cooperate. I’m also sure that’s a big part of why Jenelle made sure to keep him facilities for so long as well. Not sure why Barbara wouldn’t cooperate.
Let’s also take a bet on how long before David and Jenelle are back together. At this point, it will be before her custody here in a few weeks. Jenelle will no doubt now think she has a flex in David not being convicted.
I bet this has nothing to do with the fact that Jenelle had Jace stashed away in a couple mental facilities for the past 6 months and recently allowed him to return to Barbara.
There’s no hope for him. Everybody failed him and keeps failing him. This will end up in the worst way.
I think what bothers me the most is the message this is sending to Jace. The abuse Jace suffered, the multiple mental health facilities that Jenelle has committed him to, the estrangement from the only mother he has ever known, the list goes on and on. And a 3 year delay and an ultimate dismissal is sending Jace the message that he doesn’t matter.
I hope Jace doesn’t read the stuff on the internet but I’m sure he does. On the off chance he does I would want him to know that he matters and he is worthy of a beautiful life. He deserves happiness, security and unconditional love. And the majority of the internet believes Jace. The ones that don’t are illiterate and for some reason worship Jenelle.
The best thing for Jace is the day he turns 18yrs. I hope he stays off social media but it’s all he knows so he probably won’t. The court ruling sucks but is not surprising.
I believe the reason was bc JE probably agreed to let Jace live with Barb, if they didn’t pursue the case. So they didn’t show up to court.
I would love to say I’m shocked. I’m not. I knew this was going to be the outcome.
We knew this would happen. I’m not even remotely surprised. I just hope Jace can get fully away from these people and live a stable/happy life.
I bet his “mother” has signed custody back to Barb and Jace agreed to not pursue this.
This is sick. The fact that it took three years, and then wasn’t even actually taken seriously. 10 minutes to dismiss a case means nothing was even looked at but the fact that it happened so long ago. Disgusting.
Maybe if the state hadn’t allowed so many continuances, Jace and Barbara would’ve had the momentum to actually see justice.
Oof! I wonder why they no longer pursued it. Was it because it took 3 years to bring it to court? It’s sad because you want him to face some level of justice, but maybe the victim didn’t want to have to jump back into that stressful time in his life. I can totally understand that. This poor kid needs to leave this crap in his past and move forward.
UBT isn’t done living, however, and I hope that the universe has some level of karma waiting for him (though being homeless at nearly 40 unless he stays with Lieutenant Jan seems like a good start). I wish he and his swamp soul mate the day they deserve.
NOOOOOOOO! Damn I am disappointed.