A man charged with killing his neighbor appeared during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court last week.
In the initial stages of the case, a no contact order was made a condition of 28-year-old Johnathan Mauldin’s bond. Under the order, he was to have no contact with his girlfriend, then 25-year-old Mary Alice Guist.
The girlfriend made a number of tries at getting the order dismissed so she and Mauldin could be reunited.
The effort was successful last week when Circuit Judge John Putman lifted the order.
Guist has signed statements and written letters to the court in her effort to have some type of contact reestablished with Mauldin.
In late April last year, Guist was partially successful. At the end of a half-hour hearing on a request to lift the order, Judge Putman did modify it to allow the couple to speak on the telephone.
The judge refused at that time to permit person-to-person contact, even if supervised.
Guist has said repeatedly that, contrary to the domestic battery charge against him, Mauldin did not become physical with her on the day of the murder. She said she was attempting to restrain Mauldin as he was making his way toward the back bedroom of their apartment when he “shrugged me off his back.”
She claimed during testimony in last year’s hearing that, “The incident was not what it appeared to be.”
The girlfriend wrote in her statement she was not injured by Mauldin’s actions.
She told the court Mauldin did have a drinking problem, but she had never felt threatened by him during the two years they had been “partners.” Guist admitted that Mauldin “would yell at me when he was drinking, but never got physical.”
Guist testified that “our relationship has not been a walk in the park, but I care deeply about him.”
Mauldin has been enrolled in a residential rehab facility in Mountain Home for some time and is reported to be making “excellent progress” in dealing with his alcohol addiction.
The facility staff reports Mauldin had been “clean and sober” for some time. The rehab facility has a zero tolerance policy. If a participant breaks the rules, that person is kicked out of the program and sent back to jail.
Jordan Tinsley of the Little Rock law firm of Tinsley and Youngdahl and Mountain Home attorney Paul Bayless represent Mauldin.
THE MURDER
Mauldin is charged with manslaughter, terroristic threatening and 3rd degree domestic battery.
The charges against Mauldin were filed at two different times, but arose from the same incident on May 25, 2020.
The initial domestic battery charge stemmed from him allegedly pushing his girlfriend into a door as he tried to move away from police the day of the shooting incident.
Mauldin’s terroristic threatening charge stems from profanity-laced threats he is alleged to have made to police dealing with the incident.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Mountain Home police officers were sent to the Quail Run Apartments in response to a report of a possible shooting involving neighbors.
When officers arrived, they found Mauldin lying in the breezeway screaming. He was reported to have abruptly gotten up and “staggered to his apartment.”
Mauldin, who was described as extremely intoxicated, disregarded commands to halt, entered his residence and headed toward a back bedroom. Police reported his girlfriend attempted to stop him.
Mauldin was alleged to have pushed her into a door resulting in the domestic battery charge.
The body of the victim – then 67-year-old Jamie Sanders – was found in his apartment. He was reported to have died from two gunshot wounds. His body was sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy.
Details of what happened between Mauldin and Sanders to bring on the fatal encounter have not come to light as yet.
Mauldin is alleged to have told investigators he remembered being at Sander’s apartment drinking, but said he couldn’t recall anything related to the shooting itself.
Both Mauldin and Sanders were reported to have blood alcohol levels well above the legal limit. Mauldin’s level registered at 0.33 and Sanders’ at 0.43.
In Arkansas, if a person registers 0.08, he or she can be charged with drunk driving. According to medical publications, once a person’s blood alcohol concentration reaches 0.40, there is a significant risk of coma or death.
Two handguns were recovered from Sanders’ apartment – one belonged to Mauldin and one to the dead man. There were a number of spend rounds from both weapons found in the victim’s apartment, according to the probable cause affidavit.
After additional investigation, including an autopsy on the neighbor’s body, the more serious manslaughter charge was filed against Mauldin in late October 2020.
At the time the manslaughter charge was added, Prosecutor David Ethredge said the evidence gathered at the scene, and information provided by the autopsy clearly indicated the manslaughter charge was warranted.
A trial date is now set for August 1.
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