The trial for a Gassville man facing a number of charges, including three counts of rape, was set to begin Tuesday, but has been continued until May 1.
A short hearing was held Monday and an issue arose concerning whether the defense had received all of the “discovery” to which it was entitled. The continuation was granted by retired Circuit Judge Gordon Webb until the discovery issue could be resolved.
A motion concerning the now ex-wife of 38 year-old Bradley Uren, 39-year-old Jennifer Uren-Helton, testifying against him was addressed last week. Judge Webb, who is handling the case on assignment from the Arkansas Supreme Court, said he planned to approve the state’s motion to compel testimony.
The Urens were arrested in early 2020. Bradley Uren was charged with three counts of rape and his then wife with two counts of permitting child abuse.
Bradley Uren has been jailed since initially being booked March 6, 2020. His bail is now set at slightly more than $522,000. Jennifer Uren-Helton posted a $5,000 bond and was released on March 25, 2020.
Initially, Little Rock attorney LaTonya Austin Honorable, was representing Bradley Uren in his rape cases on assignment from the State Public Defenders Commission.
She filed a motion asking to be taken off the case and the motion was approved. In the motion to end her representation of Bradley Uren she wrote she had “safety concerns” in dealing with him.
The Little Rock attorney is black and Bradley Uren has been known to direct racial slurs at a member of the Baxter County Detention Center staff who is also black.
At the outset of their cases, both Bradley and Jennifer Uren-Helton entered not guilty pleas to charges against them.
SELF INCRIMINATION RISK
On August 8 last year, the Baxter County Public Defenders Office filed a motion on behalf of Jennifer Uren-Helton indicating she did not intend to testify in her ex-husbands case.
The motion laid out the reasons for the request, including the fact that she faces charges stemming from the same events that resulted in her now ex-husband being charged.
Her attorney says if she testifies in her husband’s trial, she would risk self-incrimination in her own case.
In a motion to compel her testimony filed February 1, prosecutors have said they are aware of the self-incrimination possibility and would not be using testimony she gives in her husband’s trial against her.
During the hearing that was held last week, Deputy Public Defender John Russo, said that “full use immunity” would be extended to Jennifer Uren-Helton’s testimony in Bradley Uren’s trial.
The only charges that could be held against her stemming from the information she gives in her husband’s trial would be for not telling the truth while testifying under oath.
Some court records are open to the public and deal with matters other than the rape charges. They show that Bradley Uren and his ex-wife have filed petitions seeking orders of protection against each other.
In his petitions, Bradley Uren accuses his ex-wife of wanting to sell one of their children to relatives of hers for $10,000. He also alleges his former wife and other unnamed individual “have a conspiracy” to get him “out of the picture.”
He charges she was violent with him, consorted with convicted criminals and made threats to “find someone to take care” of her husband.
In her petition, Jennifer Uren-Helton alleges her husband had hit her several times, tried to break her arm and threatened her life and the lives of the couples children.
She accused Bradley Uren of having “peek holes” in the home enabling him to watch “every move” made by his ex-wife and the children.
In court records filed at the time of the arrest, Bradley and Jennifer Uren were living in a residence located along Swaying Oak Drive in Gassville.
Jennifer Uren-Helton said at one point, the Arkansas Department of Human Services had custody of the couple’s children, allegedly because her husband had “molested” some of them.
Jennifer Uren-Helton is now divorced from Bradley Uren.
JAIL ATTACKS
In addition to the rape charges, Bradley Uren did face criminal offenses in two other cases stemming from fights and disturbances in the Baxter County Detention Center.
According to the court records, the most recent jail disturbance involving Bradley Uren took place on February 7, 2021.
Bradley Uren and another inmate are accused of taking turns attacking a fellow prisoner.
The victim was transported to Baxter Health for treatment and then moved to a hospital in Springfield.
The state is seeking to have the cost of medical treatment for the inmate/victim assessed to Uren and the other person involved in the fight, 21-year-old Devontae Sipps.
The first jail fight in which Uren was alleged to have been involved took place September 28 2020. He was charged with battery of jail staff and impairing the operations of a vital public facility.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the first jail disturbance case, Bradley Uren was reported to have began kicking the door of his cell, threw the morning meal cart and contents in the direction of a member of the jail staff, and began screaming at the jailer – cursing and using a number of racial slurs.
When jailers responded and made entry to the area where Bradley Uren was housed, he was told he was to be locked down for 24 hours due to his unruly behavior. Bradley Uren is alleged to have said he was “not going anywhere.”
Deputies reported they gave him one last chance to gather his mat and other items that had been issued to him and go to lock down.
As a member of the jail staff began to “assist” Uren off his bed, the inmate was said to have actively resisted, including elbowing one of the deputies.
He was finally taken to the ground where he was placed in an arm lock in order to get him under control and to prevent him from carrying out further attacks on jailers. He was then was placed in an isolation cell.
Bradley Uren is a registered sex offender. His records show he is required to register during his lifetime after being convicted of sexual battery in August 2005.
According to the Baxter County Sheriff’s website, his sex offender status stemmed from an incident in another state involving Bradley Uren, who was 18-years-old at the time, and a 14-year-old female.
Bradley Uren was convicted of encouraging the minor female to come to his house where he forced her to remove her clothing at knife point.
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