Lawyer Held After Dagger Is Found in Courtroom

A Stanislaus County lawyer was arrested for allegedly appearing before a Merced Municipal Court judge with a five-inch dagger hidden behind his back.

A bailiff noticed a bulge in the rear of John Clark Head’s suit when the attorney from Keyes appeared in Judge Robert Quall’s chambers this week on a contempt of court charge. The bailiff, John Crouch, said he lifted the coat and found a dagger in a sheath. Head told Quall he forgot that the knife was there. Head, 45, was booked at Merced County Jail on a misdemeanor count of bringing a weapon into a courtroom.

During booking, jailers discovered that Stanislaus County had two outstanding warrants against him for driving with a suspended license. “That’s one case where Mr. Head was not using his head,” Quall said after the arrest.