Courtesy WCAX-TV Larry Drown, left, said “I don’t want him here representing me” as he fires the designated public defender. Mr. Drown was appearing in Washington County District Court to answer to a variety of felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from his alleged attempt to run down a flagger at a construction site in Northfield last fall. Larry Drown’s arraignment in the District Court in Barre last week was such a good show, most would have paid admission to see it.

He fired the public defender who was there to represent him and demanded that Colin Seaman from the public defender’s office be appointed to assist in his defense and wanted no one else.

“I don’t want an attorney who works for you, I want one that works for me,” he told Judge Brian J. Grearson who presided at the arraignment.

The judge told Mr. Drown, you have three choices, go out and find your own attorney and retain him, be assigned public defender based upon the rotation policy of the public defender’s office or defend yourself.

Mr. Drown said he just wanted to have someone assist in his defense. The court said that was not possible. Either the attorney would represent him or he must represent himself, nothing in between.

At the beginning of the hearing, the court approved the appointment of public defender for Mr. Drown with the provision that he pay a $625 co-payment. However, the defender who was there angered Mr. Drown when he requested a side bar with the judge and the state’s attorney without Mr. Drown being allowed into the confab.

Larry Drown has been charged with misdemeanor reckless or gross negligent operation of a motor vehicle, felony assault with a deadly weapon, to wit, his pickup truck and another misdemeanor, leaving the scene of an accident and property damage.

All of this arose from the alleged assault on a flagger directing traffic around the site of work being done laying a new water main on Wall Street last November when Mr. Drown’s truck allegedly struck Brandy Parker who was working for the contractor.

“The woman was never hospitalized and was released from the emergency room being ordered to take three aspirin a day,” Mr. Drown told Rob Wills of the News shortly before the hearing.

She was never run over,” he insisted.

Her statement even says that she did not go over the hood of my truck or the running board,” he added.

It’s all going up on vtruemedia.com after the hearing, he said. “Her medical report will be there, all six pages,” he said.

Normally during an arraignment, defendants are required to stand before the court, but Larry, citing a bad back, asked the judge if he could sit down.

“No you just stand there,” the judge ordered, then after a minute or so relented and let him sit down.

After telling the judge that “I’ve always won in this court and I will win again,” Larry said that he wanted Judge Grearson off his case because he believed that the judge was prejudiced against him.

“If you don’t like me as a man, I respect that. If you don’t like me because I’m Pro Se, that would be unprofessional,” Mr. Drown said. Courts are not a place for vendettas but are supposed to be a place where justice can be found for all, Mr. Drown insisted.

The judge refued to step aside from the Drown case. Larry again brought his motion to recuse the judge but the court said “that’s already been determined by the administrative law judge,” Judge Grearson replied, returning to the question of how Mr. Drown was going to be represented at the hearing.

“I want Colin Seaman. He’s already agreed to represent me,” Mr. Drown said.

The court replied that if a public defender is appointed it will be on the normal rotation.

“I have a constitutional right under the 5th and 14th Amendment to a public defender of my own choice,” Mr. Drown said.

“There is no such right,” the judge shot back.

"The courtrooms are not a place for vendettas but are supposed to be a place where justice can be found for all,” Mr. Drown replied, "and I plead not guilty."

He was ordered to return back to court on February 26 at 2:30 p.m.

He was released on his own recognizance but, at Mr. Drown’s request, the bond provisions were changed so the defendant could drive his truck over the objection of the state’s attorney.

Following the hearing, Mr. Drown spoke with the media.

"I thought my car was in reverse, it was in drive," he told Thatcher Moats of the Times Argus. "My truck lunged forward, not hitting Brandy Packer."

Several witnesses told police they saw Mr. Drown's truck hit the woman.

Mr. Drown told reporters who were at court that he was accused of hitting the flagger because Northfield police don't like him.

"It really does smell of vendetta," he said. "The Northfield Police Department, I'm a malcontent to them because politically, I'm very outspoken."

In her report, Ms. Packer said her foreman told her to close down the roadway near the intersection of Wall and Water streets. Mr. Drown drove up, she said, and when she told him he would have to wait 15 or 20 minutes for the road to re-open, he started hollering obscenities at her.

She said Mr. Drown started to back up, which led her to believe he was going to turn around.

That's when he "gunned it," she told police, who found tracks where Mr. Drown allegedly "squealed" his tires. Ms. Packer said she was struck on the right side, hurting her ankle, hips knee and neck, the police report says.

A Vermont Agency of Transportation investigator determined there were no problems with the brakes, steering or accelerator in Mr. Drown's truck, according to court papers.

Mr. Drown said that he will probably run for Vermont attorney general again this fall to correct the injustices which are being done by the court system.