BOSTON, Oct. 4, 2012—A convicted rapist whose bail on drug and related charges was lowered over Suffolk County prosecutors’ objection is now the target of an arrest warrant after he failed to appear at a previously-scheduled court date.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol Ball ordered that a warrant enter for MARCUS PIXLEY (D.O.B. 10/3/60) upon taking the bench this morning. The order came after Pixley failed to appear for a status hearing on his pending case yesterday afternoon; Ball gave him until 10:00 this morning to appear of his own volition.

“We’re going to issue that warrant, then,” Ball said when it was clear Pixley was not present.

Pixley is under indictment for allegedly selling a plainclothes Boston Police officer two bags of crack cocaine during a February 2011 transaction in the South End. When additional officers moved in to arrest him, he allegedly struggled with them and swallowed a third bag of crack cocaine. A fourth bag, similar in size and packaging to the two allegedly sold to the officer, was recovered from the snow in the location of the struggle.

Because Pixley has three prior convictions for resisting arrest, he is charged as a habitual offender and faces mandatory a mandatory two-and-a-half-year sentence if convicted. He has been convicted of possessing, distributing, or manufacturing narcotics eight times as an adult and was indicted as a habitual offender on the drug charge as well.

Pixley’s adult record, which dates back to 1977, also features convictions for rape, armed robbery, threats, assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a public employee, larceny over $250, and breaking and entering at night with intent to commit a felony.

The cocaine in Pixley’s most recent case were tested by the chemist at the heart of a crisis at the Department of Public Health drug laboratory, and his attorney on Sept. 11 recommended that he be released on his own recognizance. Suffolk prosecutors have assented to some defendants’ release on those grounds, including a different defendant at an earlier hearing the very same day, but argued against any reduction for Pixley because he faces mandatory incarceration if convicted on charges unrelated to the drugs or their testing.

The judge reduced Pixley’s bail from $5,000 to $1,000, which he posted.

When Pixley is apprehended, he will be transported to Suffolk Superior Court, where prosecutors will request that his bail be increased once again.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.