A man charged with murder has been released from jail after a $500,000 bond was posted.
Forty-four-year-old Dusty Wheeler was processed out of the Baxter County Detention center shortly before 1 p.m. Monday.
The bond was written by Triple R Bail Bonds, which is headquartered in Cherokee Village and does business in Baxter and a number of other Arkansas Counties.
The certificate of compliance filed by Triple R as required by Act 659 of 2023 shows Dusty Wheeler paid the $50,080 in bond fees including 10 percent of the face amount of the bond.
Wheeler was arrested June 14 last year after 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 the scene.
She 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 of the head behind the ear.
Wheeler, who was found inside the residence asleep on the couch, was arrested and eventually charged with first degree murder. He has pled not guilty.
The subject of bond for Wheeler has come up during several sessions of Baxter County Circuit Court.
One of Wheeler’s attorneys, Ben Burnett, filed the original motion for a bond reduction in June last year.
Circuit Judge John Putman did reduce the bond from $1 million to $500,000 a month later.
The defense continued to ask for a lower bond. A hearing was held February 24 during which another of Wheeler’s attorneys, Ben Gibson, asked the court to further lower Wheeler’s bond to $250,000.
Gibson said his client was not a flight risk, had no past criminal history and would be willing to abide by any conditions set by the court. The court was told Wheeler would be living with his mother in the small Independence County town of Newark.
He will be required to wear an ankle monitor and will bear the expense of the monitor. He was ordered to have no contact with the victim’s family.
Any violations of the conditions set for the bond will result in Wheeler being returned to jail.
After the lengthy hearing in late February, Judge Putman denied the request for a lower bond and said the $500,000 bond was fair given the allegations in the case.
The state has objected to all of the requests to lower Wheeler’s bond.
The state law governing the writing of bail bonds was changed effective January 1 last year.
Previously, a defendant could arrange to make partial payments on the 10 percent of the bond amount required to be paid at the time the bond is written.
The new law did away with partial payments and requires the full 10 percent be paid and that the bail bond company file a document to show the bond was issued in compliance with the new law.
A defendant is allowed to put up property to stand for the 10 percent but the value of the property must be proven and the property must be signed over to the bail bond company to be held as collateral.
Wheeler is now scheduled to go to trial March 17.
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