Photos: (from left) Ryan Lindsey and Skylar Brazil
Lawyers for two men charged with the murder of Cody Stradford have withdrawn from the cases.
The latest was Cody Dennis, who represented 28-year-old Ryan Lindsey. Dennis, who practices in Gassville, listed a number of reasons for asking the court to be relieved as Lindsey’s attorney.
In his motion filed Aug. 26, he notes there “has been a deterioration of the attorney-client relationship,” and that “monetary obligations that were agreed upon have not been met.”
During a recent session of Baxter County Circuit Court, Lindsey appeared by video hookup from the East Arkansas Regional Unit of the state prison system at Brickeys where he is serving time in an earlier case.
He did not object to Dennis’ request to withdraw. Lindsey said he would fill out paperwork that would, if approved by the court, allow for the appointment of a public defender to serve as his attorney.
The paperwork will be sent to Lindsey. Circuit Judge John Putman said he wanted to get representation for Lindsey in place as quickly as possible. “These are very serious charges and you need a lawyer working on your case,” Judge Putman told Lindsey during the video session.
Lindsey is charged with capital murder, kidnapping, 2nd degree battery, being a felon in possession of a weapon and arson. The death penalty is on the table in his case.
He also has several other criminal cases open, including charges of stealing the car that he fled to Texas in after the murder.
Earlier, the attorney for 39-year-old Skylar Brazil, Mark Lucas, Jr., of Centerton, also asked to be relieved. In his motion, Lucas said his request was being made with Brazil’s “mutual agreement.”
Brazil, who is now serving time in the Varner Unit of the state prison system in an earlier case from another county, is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, 2nd degree battery and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to court records, a new attorney, James H. Shaw, Jr., of Fayetteville, filed paperwork indicating Brazil’s family had hired him to defend their relative.
The problem for the court is that a change of attorney most often means delays until the new lawyer can get up to speed on the details of the case.
There is a significant amount of evidence the state will provide to defense council during the discovery process in the cases of both Lindsey and Brazil.
THE CASE
According to the probable cause affidavit, Stradford went to Brazil’s Mountain Home residence along Cresswell Drive in early December last year.
While at the home, Lindsey and Brazil are alleged to have beaten Stradford over a protracted period while he “begged for it to stop.”
At one point, Stradford is reported to have said, “I did not do this,” indicating some sort of accusation had been made.
In investigative records, it is alleged that Brazil said the assault started when another one of the suspects, 35-year-old Ashley Nicole Hendricks, claimed Stradford had raped her after giving her a drug of some sort.
At some point, Stradford was shot. Investigators report Lindsey and 42-year-old Allison Cunningham of rural Mountain Home have allegedly told acquaintances they both shot Stradford at some point during the violent and ultimately deadly encounter.
Exactly where the shooting took place is not identified in information available to the public.
Stradford’s body was reported to have been placed in his own vehicle — a silver Dodge Charger — driven to a wooded area and set ablaze.
Only two people charged in Stradford’s death face arson charges and the possibility of being sentenced to death — Lindsey and Cunningham.
The burned out vehicle was found Dec. 16 last year off Old Arkana Road south of Mountain Home. According to investigators, the vehicle appeared to have been at the location for a number of days.
The Arkansas State Crime Laboratory identified Stradford as the victim by way of human remains found in the vehicle.
Brazil was arrested the same day the vehicle was located. He was captured at a local motel. He attempted to run, but was apprehended a sort time later.
Lindsey and Cunningham were taken into custody in south Texas near the U.S./Mexico border on Dec. 17.
According to information provided to KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot News by the Texas Department of Public Safety, Lindsey and Cunningham were traveling in separate vehicles.
Lindsey was driving a BMW Z4 convertible, reported to have been stolen in Baxter County. Cunningham was in a blue Elantra. The Texas DPS report did not indicate if the Elantra had been stolen.
Both Lindsey and Cunningham were held in the Hidalgo County, Texas, jail until extradited to Baxter County.
Hendricks is the only person charged in the murder that is not from Mountain Home. She lists an address in Siloam Springs.
Hendricks was arrested by Benton County Sheriff’s deputies and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at her home in Siloam Springs.
She also has an open criminal case in Madison County in which she is charged with being in simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms.
Hendricks is set to reappear in the Madison County case Oct. 12. She is represented by Mountain Home attorney Ben Burnett in the drug case and the Stradford murder case.
She is also the only one of those charged not jailed. Her bond was cut from $500,000 to $250,000 and she was released from the Baxter County jail Jan. 28.
No information publically available lays out how Lindsey, Cunningham, Brazil and Hendricks came together.
The only investigative note touching on that question is that Hendricks and Brazil both lived in the Siloam Springs area at one time.
Jury trials for all four defendants are now set for Sept. 13, although the change in lawyers will likely delay some or all of the proceedings beyond that date.
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