Photo: Retired Circuit Judge Gordon Webb
Retired Circuit Judge Gordon Webb of Harrison, who returned to the bench to help deal with the backlog of cases requiring jury trials, has set new trial dates for defendants in the six Baxter County cases he had been assigned to handle. The orders were signed Monday.
The request for Judge Webb to put on his robe once again came from Circuit Judge John Putman.
In a letter to the chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, Judge Putman wrote that court dockets in the 14th Judicial District were “extremely congested with hundreds of cases awaiting jury trial.” He said a special judge would enable more criminal jury trials to be set than is currently possible.
The Arkansas Supreme Court made Judge Webb’s assignment on Sept. 7 under its superintending authority over lower courts in the state.
The cases on which Judge Webb will preside are in Baxter, Boone and Marion counties. No cases were assigned from the Newton County Circuit Court. Judge Webb is assigned to a total of 20 cases throughout the 14th Judicial District – six in Baxter County, 10 in Boone and four in Marion.
In Baxter County, he will preside over the trials of Savannah Wren, Baxter Stowers, James Davis, Jeffery Shepherd, Bradley Uren and Roger Hicks Jr.
- Wren is charged with killing 19-year-old Chaseton Lewter.
Photo: Savannah Nicole Wren
- Stowers faces allegations he shot and killed Jeremy Wayne Alman. Stowers was 18-years-old at the time.
Photo: Baxter Morrell Stowers
- Davis is accused of shooting 20-year-old Tyler Wade Picket to death in late June 2019.
Photo: James Edward Tyler Davis
- Shepherd is also charged in the Pickett murder
Photo: Jeffery Scott Shepherd
- Uren and Hicks both have rape charges pending.
Photos: (from left) Bradley Uren and Roger Hicks Jr.
Feb. 22 is the new date in the Shepherd, Hicks and Uren cases. The Wren, Davis and Stowers cases have been set for March 14.
The COVID-19 pandemic restricted the operation of courts in the state. As COVID-19 spread, courts were forced to utilize alternate means of moving cases through the system.
For a time, no face-to-face contact was allowed, forcing judges, lawyers and defendants to appear by way of video conferencing from different sites.
Jury trials were prohibited for a period and even when courts were permitted to bring prospective jurors in, a new normal had to be imposed.
Judge Webb first served as prosecuting attorney in the 14th Judicial District for 24 years. He was elected circuit judge in 2002.
In all, Judge Webb had put in 42 years of public service at the time of his retirement.
Fourteenth Judicial District Prosecutor David Ethredge said Webb’s appointment “will go a long way in helping us deal with the case backlog.”
He said most of the 20 cases assigned to Webb “are ones that will take the longest to try, and that will be what helps the most.”
Ethredge said some cases could be tried in a day “while a murder trial could take more than a week.”
It is very fortunate, Ethredge said, that “Judge Webb is so familiar with the courts in this district, and that means he will need very little time to get up-to-speed.”
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