A motion to suppress evidence in the case of a Gassville man facing three counts of rape was recently denied, paving the way for 38-year-old Bradley Uren’s case to go before a jury.
The trial began in Baxter County Circuit Court Wednesday and is expected to last for several days. The trial was scheduled to begin Monday but was continued due to the illness of Uren’s defense attorney.
The jury selection process was completed around 1:30 Wednesday afternoon.
A hearing, which ran for more than five hours, was held June 29 on the suppression motion filed by Uren’s attorney, Anthony Pirani of Fayetteville.
Retired Circuit Judge Gordon Webb who is hearing the case on assignment by the Arkansas Supreme Court denied the suppression motion.
Because of the nature of the case, a larger than usual number of prospective jurors were called.
The state is being represented by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Russo and Chris Carter.
JUNE 29 SUPPRESSION HEARING
In the suppression motion, Pirani pointed out it is expected during Uren’s trial that the state would introduce incriminating statements Uren made during an interview with investigators on March 9, 2020. Pirani alleged those statements should not be admitted because of a number of reasons.
A tape of the interview was played during the hearing. Initially, Uren denied doing anything inappropriate with the victims. He had made the same claim of innocence in other meetings with investigators.
During the interview on March 9, Uren, who had been arrested and charged with rape three days before, he said, “I ain’t molested any of these kids, never forced anything.” As the interview progressed, Uren became more emotional. He asked an investigator at one point, “can we cut an agreement?” He said he had “to avoid prison” because he wanted to keep his family together and needed to take care of his ailing father.
At one point, Uren began to cry. His outright denials regarding any instances of inappropriate contact with young female family members became more of a confession.
Uren said at one point that he had touched the girls, “and felt real bad” about it. He said the encounters only happened “a couple of times” with each child. He said he did not know why he made the inappropriate contacts and was “sorry about it.”
In the suppression motion, Pirani contended that Uren’s final interview came after a long day of being questioned by investigators in what was described as “an inherently coercive custodial setting.” The defense alleged that Uren was not given a Miranda warning before that last interview, although the warning had been read to him in prior interviews conducted that day.
Pirani said Uren did not graduate high school, been diagnosed with “borderline intellectual functioning” and had a full-scale IQ score of 69. These alleged limitations made Uren, “uniquely susceptible to high pressure interrogation tactics, false promises of leniency and false or questionable suggestions about the relative strength or weakness of any evidence against him, his attorney argued during the suppression hearing.
For a lengthy period of time, Pirani asked question-after-question regarding Miranda warnings, how interviews were conducted, information gathered during interviews, what a Computer Voice Stress Analysis is, how it operates and the method the machine’s software uses to gather and then present data.
At one point, Judge Webb asked Pirani to “move it along.”
UREN AND NOW EX-WIFE CHARGED
Bradley Uren and his now ex-wife, 39-year-old Jennifer Uren-Helton, were both arrested in early 2020. Bradley Uren was charged with three counts of rape and his wife with two counts of permitting child abuse. Both entered not guilty pleas to the charges. Bradley Uren has spent more than three years in the Baxter County jail. His bail is set at more than $500,000. Jennifer Uren posted a $5,000 bond and was released on March 25, 2020.
LAWYER CHANGE
Initially, Little Rock attorney LaTonya Austin Honorable represented Bradley Uren in his rape case on assignment from the Arkansas Public Defender’s Commission. She filed a motion asking to be taken off the case February 23, 2022 and it was approved. In her motion, 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 who is also
African-American. Since May 6, 2022 he has been represented by Pirani.
SELF INCRIMINATION RISK
On August 8, last year, the Baxter County Public Defender’s Office filed a motion on behalf of Jennifer Uren-Helton indicating she did not intend to testify in her ex-husband’s case. After they were divorced, Jennifer Uren took back her maiden name of Helton.
The reasons for the request not to testify according to the motion included the fact that Jennifer Uren-Helton’s charges stem from the same set of events that resulted in her ex-husband being charged with rape. Her attorney argued that if she testified, she risked self-incrimination in her own case.
In a motion filed by prosecutors on February 1 to compel her testimony, they wrote that they are aware of the self-incrimination possibility and would not be using testimony she gives in her husband’s trial against her.
The only charge that could come from her testimony would be for not telling the truth while testifying under oath.
In late April, Judge Webb ordered Jennifer Uren-Helton to testify. She is on the state’s witness list.
Some court records in the Uren cases are open to the public, but, as is common practice, the probable cause affidavit outlining details of the alleged crimes is sealed in sex cases involving minor children.
The records that are open to the public show that Bradley Uren and his ex-wife had what appears to have been a tumultuous marriage. They have both filed petitions seeking orders of protection against each other. In his petition, Bradley Uren accuses his ex-wife of wanting to sell one of their children to one of her relatives for $10,000. He also alleges his former wife and other unnamed individuals “have a conspiracy” to get him “out of the picture.”
He also charges that she was violent with him, consorted with known criminals and made threats to “find someone to take care” of him.
In her petition, Jennifer Uren-Helton alleges her husband had assaulted her several times, tried to break her arm and threatened her life and the lives of the couple’s children. She accused Bradley Uren of having “peep holes” in their home enabling him to watch “every move” other family members made.
At the time they were arrested, Bradley Uren and Jennifer Uren-Helton were living in a residence along Swaying Oak Drive in Gassville.
After the arrest, the Arkansas Department of Human Services took custody of the children because Bradley Uren had “molested” some of them, according to his ex-wife.
JAIL CHARGES
Bradley Uren has been in the Baxter County jail since March 6, 2020 and has gotten into trouble several times since being locked up. He has been accused of beating other inmates and jail staff, exposing himself to female staff members, throwing items, kicking cell doors, ripping down security cameras and directing racial slurs at a member of the jail staff who is African-American.
Some of the charged Bradley Uren picked up while in jail have been dismissed by the state in anticipation of his jury trial on the much more serious rape charge. One of the cases based on an incident that occurred at the jail on May 18 remains open, according to court records.
REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER
Bradley Uren is a registered sex offender. His records show he was required to register for the rest of his life after being convicted of sexual battery in August 2005. According to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office website, Uren’s sex offender status stems from an incident in another state that involved a then 18-year-old Bradley Uren and a 14-year-old female. He was convicted of encouraging the minor female to come to his residence where he forced her to remove her clothing at knifepoint.
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