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 to again ask that his bond be lowered.
The subject of reducing 44-year-old Dusty Shane Wheeler’s bond has come up several times.
Wheeler remains in the Baxter County Detention Center with bond set at $500,000. The bond was originally set at $1 million.
The defense had asked for a $250,000 bond, but at the end of a lengthy hearing, Circuit Judge John Putman denied the request, saying the $500,000 figure represented “a fair bond considering the allegations in the case.”
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, has also made appearances to argue for the reduction.
Gibson argued the case for the bond reduction during Monday’s session.
The hearing basically laid out the arguments that are expected to be used during the trial now set for March 17.
A bond hearing was set for an earlier session of court but Circuit Judge John Putman said he wanted to have the family of the victim present for the hearing if they wanted to attend.
Several members of the victim’s family did appear Monday, including her parents Tony and Leighann Ash, and offered emotional testimony as they recounted the day they found their daughter dead sitting in a lawn chair just outside the garage door of the residence she shared with Wheeler.
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. On July 1 last year, Judge John Putman had approved lowering the bond to $500,000 from $1 million.
The state objected to that reduction as well.
If Wheeler is ever 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 Newark area.
THE CRIME
Wheeler was arrested June 14 last year 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 victims 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 State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.
Wheeler was found inside the house 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 her home, located near Cooper Park, in response to phone calls they received from Bradford in the early morning hours of June 14. 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 victim’s father told officers that his wife had taken a pistol which was in the daughter’s lap when they arrived on scene.
The mother said she took the gun because she feared if her daughter “woke up” she might reach for the weapon. The mother had put the weapon under the front seat of their vehicle.
She said she thought her daughter was asleep and that she would “wake her up and take her” to their home in Marion County. She said she did not imagine her daughter was deceased.
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.
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 prosecutors say 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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