Man charged after allegedly hurling chairs at man near Ashland Christian Fellowship
By Stephen Floyd, Ashland.news
A man just released from Jackson County Jail after a string of local harassment and menacing cases has been arrested for Measure 11 assault after the husband of his latest alleged victim confronted the man in Ashland.
Mathew David Todd, 39, was arrested for second-degree assault following an incident Sept. 27 outside Ashland Christian Fellowship which allegedly left his challenger with a bloody gash on his leg. Court records say he lives in Portland — and in some places spell his name as Matthew — but a family member says he is a Medford resident.
Other charges against Todd include fourth-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon, menacing, second-degree disorderly conduct and second-degree trespassing. If convicted, he faces at least 70 months in prison.
According to the Ashland Police Department, officers were called to the church shortly before 6 p.m. following reports of one man assaulting another with a chair. Witnesses said Todd, who was barred from the property in 2020, began following a woman in the courtyard area of the church, making sexual remarks and talking about strangling women.
The woman told her nearby husband, who confronted Todd about the alleged harassment. Todd allegedly began yelling and throwing folding chairs at the man from a stack against the wall.
The man suffered a 5-inch laceration on his shin, which police said was deep enough to expose underlying tissue and may have required stitches. Todd, who allegedly said he threw the chairs in self-defense, was placed under arrest and booked into the Jackson County Jail, where he remains in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Todd had been released Sept. 20 from the Jackson County Jail after serving 18 months related to a series of incidents in 2020 ranging from menacing a barista with a knife to threatening to kill a stranger with a bat to repeatedly calling 911 to complain about life in general. He had been sentenced to two years of probation for these offenses, but after being convicted of new charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct his probation was revoked May 21, 2021, and the jail sentence was imposed.
His mental health was called into question during revocation proceedings and, on Feb. 1, 2021, he was deemed unable to assist in his own defense due to mental disease or defect. After three months of treatment at the Oregon State Hospital, he was deemed fit to proceed and his probation revocation was imposed.
Todd appealed this revocation on the grounds that his new convictions were entered without the assistance of counsel, however the appeal process did not resolve before his jail sentence concluded and on Sept. 22 the appeal was dismissed as a moot.
These incidents reflect numerous other criminal cases in Jackson County, totaling 32 since 2001, the majority of which relate to trespassing, harassment and menacing. According to court records, Todd’s alleged behavior has resulted in his being banned from numerous local businesses and public spaces, including properties controlled by the Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission.
Email Ashland.news reporter Stephen Floyd at sfloydmedia@gmail.com.
Oct. 7 update: Information added about Mathew Todd’s place of residence and first-name spelling.
