$850,000 bail OK’d in junkyard slayings

A Pope County man charged with shooting two men and crushing their bodies in a car is expected to be released from jail today after a judge granted a defense motion Monday to set bail.

Circuit Judge David Laser of Jonesboro set bail for Tyler Barefield, 35, at $850,000 during a motions hearing in Russellville.

According to the Pope County sheriff’s office, Barefield was expected to be released on bond today.

Prosecuting Attorney David Gibbons said conditions of the bond were that Barefield must wear an ankle monitoring bracelet, he cannot travel more than 100 miles from Russellville and he must surrender his passport.

Barefield is charged with two counts of capital murder in the Sept. 16 deaths of Aaron Brock, 22, and Beau DeWitt, 22, both of Dardanelle. Their bodies were found crushed in a car at U-Pull-It Auto Parts, a Russellville salvage yard in which Barefield was part owner.

Barefield was scheduled to go on trial today, but Gibbons said his trial was continued until June 10 because of the lengthy trial preparation involved in the case.

Barefield’s attorney, Patrick Benca of Little Rock, had filed a motion March 7 asking Laser for a new bail hearing. Gibbons had pointed out in his response filed Friday that a district judge in September and a circuit judge in November had denied requests for bail for Barefield.

The Arkansas Supreme

Court denied Benca’s request in January for a writ of certiorari to overturn the circuit court’s bail denial, Gibbons wrote.

In his bail reconsideration motion, Bemca cited several changes since the initial denial of bail that he said entitled Barefield to bail.

Information discovered during trial preparations, he wrote, raised questions about state witness testimony in the previous bond hearing.

Benca also argued that the state announced last month it was not seeking the death penalty against Barefield.

And “a change of circumstances has occurred since the previous bond hearing, as family

members of the deceased have requested members of a white supremacist group harm the defendant while he is in jail,” Benca alleged in the motion.

The state failed to show “the proof is evident or the presumption great” that the case warrants the capital murder charges or, if convicted, capital punishment, he argued. If Barefield had not been charged with capital murder, he would be entitled to have bail.

In his response, Gibbons argued that nothing said or inadvertently unsaid in the bond hearing justified Barefield’s eligibility for bail. Also, Gibbons argued, the fact that the death penalty is not on the table in the case did not change the charge or nature of capital murder.

On the threat of violence in jail by white supremacists, Gibbons argued that security was the sheriff’s responsibility and not a factor in determining whether Barefield merited bail.

“Once a determination has been made that ‘the proof is evident or the presumption is great’ of conviction, the defendant is not bailable,” Gibbons argued in his response.

A Pope County sheriff’s deputy testified in the probable cause hearing in September that surveillance video showed Barefield carrying an AR-15 rifle, which uses .223-caliber ammunition, in the salvage yard about 1:15 a.m. Sept. 16.

A spent .223-caliber shell casing was found near where the men were believed to have been shot, and a bullet fragment consistent with .223-caliber

ammunition was recovered from one of the bodies, according to reports.

The deputy testified that Barefield admitted to crushing the car in which the two men were found but denied being present when they were killed.

A witness testified that Brock and DeWitt had broken into the yard during the night to look for car parts. They had been at the salvage yard earlier that day, but the yard closed before they could finish salvaging the parts they sought.

Laser is presiding over the case since the judge originally assigned to the case, William Pearson, was suspended in January after being arrested in Johnson County on charges of driving while intoxicated, fleeing, reckless driving and refusal to submit to a chemical test.