Book report, probation are sentence in beating

BENTONVILLE — A Tennessee man was ordered to write an essay on The Ox-Bow Incident at part of his sentence for his role in a beating last year.

Eric Edinger, 19, of Estill Springs, Tenn., also was placed on 10 years of state-supervised probation under Act 346, which means his conviction may be expunged if he completes probation.

Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren told Edinger he must write a four-page, double-spaced essay on the book written by Walter Van Tilburg Clark and first published in 1940. The book deals with the lynching of three innocent men in the American West. The book was made into a movie by the same name in 1943 and starred Henry Fonda.

Karren told Edinger he could read the book or watch the movie. Edinger has 60 days to complete the report, said Joshua Robinson, deputy prosecutor.

Karren wants the report to include how The Ox-Bow Incident relates to what Edinger did. Karren also warned Edinger about pack mentality and peer pressure.

Edinger’s sentence was one of four handed down last week in the beating of Paul Ray Halligan of Kansas, who said he was attacked and left near Grace Point Church of Northwest Arkansas after he attended a Confederate Regulators event in Manchester, Ky., with two women, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Bentonville police received a call on June 6 from Grace Point Church. Halligan claimed he had been attacked the previous day and left near the church, according to the affidavit.

Halligan said he went to Kentucky with his girlfriend Heather Hull and Tracy Lynn Ova, 39, also of Estill Springs, whom he met on Facebook, according to the affidavit.

Halligan told police he sensed something was wrong on the June 5 return trip to Bentonville. Ova complained someone stole money at the meeting. Halligan said Ova had a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun, the affidavit states.

Halligan said they returned to the Value Place Inn in Bentonville where Ova’s boyfriend Rickey Shetters was staying, according to court documents. Halligan said the women left him in the motel room with Edinger, Shetters and Chris Castleman, who all worked for a traveling construction crew, the affidavit states.

The men accused Halligan of stealing money and drugs from someone in Kentucky who was referred to as the “General from Virginia,” according to court documents. Halligan was left near the church after the attack, according to court documents

Hull, Castleman and Edinger were witnesses who prosecutors called to testify against Ova.

A jury on Wednesday found Ova guilty of kidnapping, aggravated assault and first-degree terroristic threatening. The jury recommended Ova serve 10 years in prison, but Karren gave her an eight-year prison sentence instead.

Castleman, 36, of Tullahoma, Tenn., pleaded guilty Monday to kidnapping, aggravated assault and third-degree battery. He was sentenced on Wednesday to six years in prison.

Hull, 25, of Joplin, Mo., pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree terroristic threatening and was placed on six years of state-supervised probation.

Shetters, 32, also of Estill Springs, already pleaded guilty to accomplice to kidnapping and awaits sentencing.