The University student accused by police of throwing a rock inside Taylor’s Bar and Grille in early April, causing several hundred dollars in broken alcohol bottles and a broken mirror, pleaded not guilty in court Monday.
Austin Michael Hauth, 24, appeared in Lane County Circuit Court Monday after he was charged with felony criminal mischief last week.
Judge Douglas S. Mitchell appointed an attorney for Hauth after he requested that his student loans not be considered as a means to pay for a private attorney.
Police said Hauth, an undergraduate political science major, entered Taylor’s April 2 and threw a potato-sized rock at the row of liquor bottles behind the bar, breaking the bottles and damaging a mirror.
He was originally arrested after multiple people recognized him from a Taylor’s surveillance camera photo published in the Emerald April 4 and called police, police said.
He was arrested April 5 after leading police on a brief foot chase, Hauth said in an interview. Police arrested him on charges of first-degree criminal mischief , reckless endangering, interfering with police and disorderly conduct.
A grand jury filed the recent charges after a two-month investigation, said Jim Hunt, the assistant district attorney who was at Hauth’s arraignment.
First-degree criminal mischief is a felony defined as a property crime, and the amount of damaged or destroyed property must exceed $750, among other definitions, according to Oregon Revised Statutes.
Hauth was ordered to appear July 10 for his 35-day call, a mandatory status check in criminal cases during which a defendant does one of three actions: states he or she is ready to go to trial, changes the original plea or requests more time to decide what to do with the case.