Dusty Wheeler (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)
A Mountain Home man charged with first degree murder appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday (December 16).
The subject of 44-year-old Dusty Shane Wheeler’s bond was raised once more.
Wheeler remains in the Baxter County Detention Center with bond set at $500,000.
Wheeler’s attorney, Ben Burnett of Mountain Home, filed a petition to reduce the bond in late June. Another defense attorney in the case, Ben Gibson, argued for the reduction Monday.
Gibson said Wheeler had no past criminal record, was not a flight risk and would abide by any conditions set by the court.
Deputy Prosecutor Chris Carter said the state objected to any further reduction of Wheeler’s bond. Circuit Judge John Putman had approved lowering the bond to $500,000 from $1 million July 1.
The state objected to that reduction as well.
On Monday, Gibson told the court that the state’s position means, in essence, “there is no bond for murder.”
Gibson told the court it was hoped Wheeler’s bond could be cut to $150,000 and that his parents “will stand for the bond.”
Judge Putman turned down the latest bond reduction request, saying the $500,000 bond “was reasonable given the charges, and I will not approve a further reduction.”
If Wheeler is every able to bond out, he will have to abide by a number of conditions, including being on house arrest, requiring he wear an ankle monitor, that he has no contact with members of the victim’s family and stays away from alcohol.
During the earlier bond reduction request, Wheeler said if was able to put up a bond and was released from jail, he would be living with his mother in the Batesville area.
THE CRIME
Wheeler was arrested June 14 when Mountain Home police were called to a residence along Sunny Ann Lane about 6 a.m. and found a woman sitting in a lawn chair outside the house.
The victim, identified as 36-year-old Heather Bradford, was reported to be cold and showing no cardiac rhythm when Baxter Health paramedics arrived on scene.
Bradford was reported to have been shot in the head. An entry wound was found on the top left side of the victim’s head behind her ear and an exit wound located on the bottom right side behind the ear.
The victim’s body was sent to the Arkansas State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.
Wheeler was found inside the house he shared with Bradford asleep on the living room couch. He was detained and taken to a Mountain Home Police patrol car.
PARENTS PRESENT AT SCENE
The victims’ parents had come to the home in response to a phone call they received from their daughter. Bradford is alleged to have told them that she and Wheeler had been fighting and that he had struck her in the face.
A bullet casing was found in the driveway next to the victim’s chair, but officers were not immediately able to locate a weapon.
The father of the victim told officers that his wife had taken a pistol which was in the daughter’s lap when they arrived because she feared if her daughter “woke up,” she might reach for the gun. The mother had put the gun under the front seat of their vehicle.
The father turned the pistol over to officers who noted that the barrel end of the weapon was clear of blood or tissue and that no powder burns were visible on the entry wound. Those findings tend to rule out suicide. In addition, the entry wound was found to be on the left side of the victim’s head. Her parents reported their daughter was right-handed.
As Wheeler was being led to a patrol car, he told officers he had seen a pistol in the victim’s hand, but that was not possible because the mother had taken the weapon and put in her vehicle by that time.
ALLEGED DRINKING PROBLEM
According to petitions filed for an order of protection by another woman, Wheeler was alleged to have a serious drinking problem.
He had been accused of drinking and driving with his children in the vehicle while they were in his custody.
In the divorce settlement with the children’s mother, Wheeler had been given visitation rights on certain days. The woman reported on two occasions, she had to pick the children up while they were with Wheeler.
She said the reason the children had to be retrieved from Wheeler on those two occasions were “alcohol related incidents.”
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