Two people involved in unrelated stabbing incidents appear in circuit court
Two people involved in separate and unrelated stabbing incidents this week made appearances in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and heard the charges against them read, their constitutional rights explained and bond set.
The Rule 8.1 hearing was conducted by Circuit Judge David Laser of Jonesboro, who was sitting in for Judge Gordon Webb who is presiding at a murder trial in Boone County.
A Mountain Home man, 41-year-old Eric Guynes, is being charged with criminal attempt to commit capital murder, first degree battery and reckless burning stemming from a stabbing in the early morning hours on Wednesday when Mountain Home Police officers responded to a local business where an individual was being attacked. His bond was lowered from $500,000 to $350,000.
One of the officers saw a man, later identified as 46-year-old Michael Newberry of Mountain Home, standing outside a vehicle and noticed his neck was “spurting blood.” It was learned from Newberry an unknown male had approached him and asked if the victim knew him. Newberry told the male he was not acquainted with him and turned away. Newberry then said he was hit in the back of the head and had been stabbed. He stated the suspect then attempted to set him and his car on fire. While being transported to the hospital, Newberry was able to give officers a description of the suspect and the vehicle he was driving.
A be-on-the-lookout (BOLO) bulletin was broadcast for the vehicle and suspect, and a short time later officers were advised a man was attempting to steal a person’s car. Officers were eventually able to stop and arrest two males. One of the men, later identified as Guynes, fit the description by Newberry as the person who attacked him. Officers saw what appeared to be blood on Guynes’ pants and recovered a pocket knife with blood on it in Guynes’ pants pocket. A set of keys were found inside Guynes’ vehicle.
In a follow-up interview with Newberry, it was learned he was hit from behind dazing him as he entered his vehicle. A large block was then smashed through the window of the car, and he was hit in the side of the head. He was then dragged from the vehicle, stabbed several times in the back and his throat was slashed. Newberry said he was somehow able to get back into his vehicle where he played dead. During the incident, Guynes set fire to the inside of the car. While processing the evidence, investigators were able to determine the victim was stabbed seven times in the back.
As he stood at the podium while Judge Laser read the charges and explained his rights, Guynes looked down and slightly shook his head from side-to-side. He said little during his appearance.
Judge Laser ordered Guynes to reappear in circuit court on April 12th.
In the second case, a woman, 42-year-old Melissa Goodman of Midway, also had an 8.1 hearing in which she heard of the charges lodged against her as the result of an incident on March 21st in which she is alleged to have stabbed her husband. Actually at one point, Goodman referred to the man she stabbed as her husband even though they “were not married.” She said they had been together 20 years and were very much in love.
The stabbing incident in Midway began when a Baxter County deputy sheriff was called to an address on State Highway 126 North in response to a report of a stabbing.
When the deputy arrived at the address, Goodman initially denied the officer entry into the home. She finally allowed the deputy in, and he found the victim sitting in a chair holding his leg and blood soaking through his jeans. The deputy observed a knife clipped to Goodman’s right front pocket, found the knife to have blood on it and took it into evidence.
During her appearance in circuit court Thursday, Goodman said her “husband” had come home after a long day’s work of crushing cars, was tired and in a bad mood. She told the court the couple argued back and forth and the knifing occurred. The “husband” told officers his wife had pulled the knife from her pocket, started waving it around and began stabbing the man in the leg.
Goodman is being charged with aggravated assault of a family or household members. Judge Laser set her bond at $7,500. He asked Goodman if she had the money to make the bond, and she said she was ill and had been unemployed for some time. She said her “husband,” the stabbing victim, would provide the funds to make her bond. Judge Laser said he intended to impose a no-contact order, which is normal in cases of this type. Goodman said she had no place to go but to the residence she shares with her husband. Judge Laser was informed a parole hold was being placed on Goodman, and she would not immediately need a residence other than the county jail.
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Shooting victim’s identity released
The suspect in the theft of a tractor shot and killed by a Baxter County Sheriff’s Deputy Monday night in the Lone Rock area has been identified as 50-year-old Michael Lavelee Holliman of Nacogdoches, Texas. Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery says Holliman provided his address to Baxter County Jail staff after he had been booked in January following his arrest by the Mountain Home Police Department for a charge of DWI. Monday night’s shooting followed a confrontation involving a crossbow.
Sheriff Montgomery says the officer who shot and killed Holliman is Deputy Craig Gates, who has been with the department since July 2015. Gates had previously worked for another law enforcement agency in Arkansas since 2014 before moving to Baxter County.
Montgomery says a disabled vehicle registered to Holliman was found approximately one and a half miles away from the scene on Twin Creek Road, a forest service road. The vehicle was towed to impound and a search warrant is being procured to search it.
Also, Tuesday afternoon, officers found a backpack, a cache of food, clothing, car keys, and other articles at a makeshift campsite in a wooded area approximately one-half mile from where the car was found along the same forest road.
Montgomery says it has been confirmed the tractor Holliman was operating was the one reported stolen earlier Monday. A farm implement attached to the tractor when it was stolen was also found Tuesday. In addition, it was determined there was an outstanding felony bench warrant for Holliman’s arrest for possession of firearms by certain persons or a convicted felon.
It was learned during Holliman’s arrest for DWI in January there were three loaded handguns and one disassembled shotgun in the vehicle. Mountain Home Police later obtained the warrant on February 13th for the arrest of Holliman on the firearms charge. The warrant had not been served and was still active.
Holliman was found to have an extensive past arrest history in Missouri, California, Iowa, and Texas, including convictions for armed robbery, grand theft, and assault. Authorities are trying to determine why Holliman was in the area. He is not known to have any family or acquaintances in this area.
Holliman’s body has been sent to the Arkansas State Medical Examiners Office in Little Rock where an autopsy is scheduled to be performed Wednesday morning.
The matter remains under active investigation by the Arkansas State Police, with the Sheriffs Office assisting as needed. Investigators are awaiting the results of the autopsy report prior to releasing any additional information. According to the sheriffs policy, Deputy Gates will be on administrative leave for a few days.
The incident began when, according to Montgomery, Deputy Gates was dispatched to the Lone Rock Store at 7755 Push Mountain Road at approximately 6:11 Monday evening to take a theft report. After arriving at the store, Gates was told a tractor, matching the description of one reported stolen in the same area earlier Monday, passed by the store and was headed west on Baxter County Road 72, adjacent to the store.
Gates followed the tractor a short distance and was able to make contact with the suspect at approximately 6:49. Two minutes later, the deputy advised by radio shots had been fired and a man was down. Additional officers from multiple agencies responded, including an ambulance dispatched from Baxter Regional Medical Center and fire/rescue personnel from the Lone Rock Fire Department.
Preliminary information indicates once the deputy stopped the tractor, the suspect confronted the deputy with a crossbow. A physical struggle ensued and the deputy shot him. The suspect was killed and the deputy sustained minor injury.
Other agencies assisting were the Mountain Home Police Department, Arkansas State Police Highway Patrol Division and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
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Early morning shooting leaves one dead
A Marshall man, whose identity is not yet being released, was shot and killed early Friday morning in Stone County after he allegedly unlawfully entered a residence in the Round Mountain area armed with a gun.
Stone County Sheriff Lance Bonds says early Friday morning, at approximately 12:18, deputies were dispatched to an intoxicated person on Cedar Creek Road. It was also reported the intoxicated person was making threats to the complainants by phone and had a firearm in his possession.
After a few minutes passed, dispatch stated shots were fired. The dispatcher was still in contact with the complainant by phone at the time. The dispatcher told responding officers an intruder had been shot at the residence.
Moments later deputies arrived on scene and observed, through the open door of the residence, a male lying on the floor several feet inside with what appeared to be a rifle lying next him. It was determined he was deceased.
During the course of the investigation, it was determined the deceased suspect had unlawfully entered the residence, while being armed. After entering the residence, the suspect was confronted by the homeowner. Bonds says the homeowner, in fear for his safety and the safety of his family, fired upon the suspect.
The investigation is ongoing by the Stone County Sheriff’s Department. Bonds has contacted the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division for assistance.
The identity of the deceased male is being withheld until notification of death has been confirmed.
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Assessment fee in NABORS debt removed from various business parcels
The $18 annual assessment fee against private boat dock, cell tower and billboard business parcels to pay the debt incurred in purchasing the NABORS waste hauling operation and local landfill has been removed.
Baxter County Collector Teresa Smith says the court appointed receiver in the ruling leading to the $18 annual assessment fee against each residence and business parcel in the six-county Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District notified her Monday to remove the fee from parcels containing private boat docks, cell towers and billboards.
Smith says she has received the change requests from Assessor Jayme Nicholson and is in the process of making those amendments and mailing revised tax statements.
Smith says the revised statements are being mailed on bright orange paper, with a notification on the envelopes reading “open immediately” and “attention important tax information enclosed.”
She says refunds to those who have already paid the tax are being processed by the staff in her office. The refunds will be processed once all the revised statements have been mailed.
The $18 annual assessment follows a Pulaski County judge’s April 2017 order. The order is a result of a saga that began when the Northwest Arkansas Regional Solid Waste District defaulted on the payment of principal and interest to the bondholders in November 2012 and stopped trash collections. After the district defaulted on its debt, Bank of the Ozarks–as trustee of the bondholders–sued the district in Pulaski County Circuit Court. With the judge’s ruling came the appointment of Attorney Geoffrey Treece of Little Rock as a court appointed receiver.
A town hall forum is set for Wednesday to address citizen concerns regarding the controversial $18 annual assessment fee. The forum will be held at 2 p.m. in the second floor courtroom of the Baxter County Courthouse.
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Marion County vote centers approved by state
Some noticeable changes are being implemented for this year’s elections in Marion County. Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin’s Chief of Staff Kelly Boyd has informed KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot News the Marion County Election Commission’s proposal for vote centers has been approved.
Commission chair Elaine Ryder says Marion County will begin with two vote centers open for early voting.
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The Arkansas General Assembly voted in 2013 to make the state the ninth in the U.S. to adopt permissive use of voter centers as an alternative to traditional, neighborhood-based precincts. Since then, 12 counties have implemented the new process, and Boone County was the first.
Ryder says Marion County’s new centers should be convenient for the election commission and the voters.
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Ryder says the new voter centers will be available for the May primaries.
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