Scrapyard owner convicted
Russellville man guilty of slaying 2 car-parts thieves
RUSSELLVILLE — A Pope County jury deliberated for five hours before finding Tyler Barefield guilty Wednesday night of two counts of capital murder in the double slaying last year at his family’s Russellville salvage yard.
Barefield fired a gun, killing Aaron Brock and Beau DeWitt, both 22, of Dardanelle, the jury of 10 men and two women concluded. Court will reconvene today for his sentencing, with Barefield, 36, facing life in prison without parole. Prosecutors have said they would not seek the death penalty in the case.
Brock and DeWitt sneaked into the salvage yard on a stormy Friday night to steal auto parts. They were missing for four days before investigators found their mangled bodies in a crushed Chevrolet Impala at U-Pull-It Auto Parts of Russellville on Sept. 20, 2016, according to testimony.
Barefield sat silent, straight and still when Pope County Circuit Judge William Pearson read the verdict, as friends and family hunched behind him and sobbed. Barefield, who had been free on an $850,000 bond, rolled his chair backward, turned around, and handed keys and other items to his girlfriend before Pearson revoked his bail.
A bailiff handcuffed Barefield, then got tissues for his crying family members, and escorted Barefield through the same door where the jury exited. Online Pope County jail records show that Barefield was booked into the jail at 8:30 p.m.
Jurors, who began to deliberate at 3:10 p.m. Wednesday, had earlier hinted at confusion regarding the testimony of an state Crime Laboratory expert who had tested whether marks on a bullet and a shell casing matched Barefield’s gun. Defense attorneys offered conflicting explanations for the expert’s findings during more than three hours of closing arguments.
The jury twice asked Pearson in written notes for more information about what the Crime Lab witness said during testimony a week ago today. Pearson declined to provide it both times, saying he did not have a certified transcript to provide.
Shortly before 8 p.m., Pearson summoned the jury back into the courtroom. At least 10 jurors nodded when Pearson asked if they wanted to continue discussions rather than break for the night. Except for some hard candy available in the jury room, they hadn’t eaten since a 90-minute midday lunch
break, a bailiff said.
They delivered a unanimous verdict less than 10 minutes later, on the eighth day of a trial that included six days of testimony and the introduction of more than 160 pieces of evidence.
Barefield’s lead defense attorney Patrick Benca remained in the courtroom for several minutes after the verdict was read. He sat with his head in his hands, his elbows on his thighs. He stood up, spoke with Barefield’s family and then began to pace.
“No comment today,” Benca said as he left the courtroom.
Benca laid the groundwork for an appeal during the trial by eliciting “proffer” testimony included in the court transcript but out of jurors’ earshot.
He registered a formal objection with Pearson before resting his case, saying the judge repeatedly blocked him from introducing evidence in a way that amounted to a “cumulative error.”
The evidence Benca wanted to introduce included photographs of footprints at the salvage yard that he said weren’t investigated and testimony about the victims’ tattoos that he said links them to a violent white-supremacist group.
Prosecuting Attorney David Gibbons also declined to comment, saying he preferred to wait until after sentencing.
The trial unfolded in Barefield’s hometown of Russellville, a city of roughly 28,000 people, located about 80 miles west of Little Rock and about 5 miles north of Dardanelle.
More than 90 people squeezed into the Pope County courtroom gallery by 9 a.m. Wednesday — several stood leaning against the walls — after witnesses were released from court rules that barred them from hearing testimony.
While attorneys met in Pearson’s chambers to discuss jury instructions, women in the gallery took turns cradling an infant. A row of local law enforcement officers passed around a tin of breath mints. An Army National Guardsman, DeWitt’s older brother, sat on the carpeted floor.
Jurors were permitted to consider lesser charges of first- or second-degree murder but only after they had ruled out the capital murder charge. To find guilt on the lesser offenses, which carry potential sentences ranging from six years to life in prison, the jury would have had to find that Barefield purposely or knowingly killed the men without premeditation, Pearson said.
During closing arguments Gibbons characterized Barefield as a “hunter” fed up over repeated thefts, who decided to “eliminate” Brock and DeWitt.
Barefield recognized car parts as “bait” for thieves, such as acorn for deer or rice for waterfowl, Gibbons said. So wearing camouflage, Barefield grabbed a scoped semi-automatic rifle, a stool and snacks, and waited in the rain for the two men to arrive, Gibbons said.
Surveillance footage shown to jurors placed Barefield at the salvage yard, which he co-owns, carrying the rifle and other gear the night of the shootings. The footage also captured him leaving shortly after a resident who lives near U-Pull-It called 911 to report hearing four gunshots, according to testimony.
Video footage did not show any gunfire, and no DNA evidence connecting Barefield to the killings was presented.
Barefield told an investigator that he arrived at the salvage yard the next day and crushed the car in which the men’s bodies were found, but that he didn’t know they were inside it.
Benca argued that Barefield was “primarily” at the salvage yard that night to check on whether the thunderstorm had displaced newly placed gravel. Barefield also scouted for thieves, Benca said, but with no intention to hurt anyone.
Benca urged jurors to consider video footage that, he said, shows lights in the distance at the salvage yard around the time Brock and DeWitt were killed. He said Barefield and the victims had been at the salvage yard for a 90-minute overlap but that shots weren’t fired until the lights appear.
Benca also said investigators did not investigate other known leads in the case after seeing Barefield on the video.
The investigation “followed the evidence,” said deputy prosecutor Heather Patton, who had the last word with the jury during a 30-minute rebuttal of Benca’s argument. “It didn’t follow shadows that cannot be shown were in that salvage yard,” she said.
After about 70 minutes of deliberation, the jury requested a transcript of testimony given by the Crime Lab firearms examiner Kelsey Ellison. Ellison conducted tests to determine whether a shell casing found at the salvage yard and the damaged bullet extracted from Brock’s body could be linked to Barefield’s rifle. Pearson inform jurors that there was no transcript available.
At 7 p.m., jurors asked Pearson if there was “any way” to have Ellison’s testimony read back to them. Pearson said no. The jury’s note also asked whether anyone had introduced Ellison’s lab reports as evidence, to which Pearson said no.
During closing arguments, Benca said the tests were inconclusive. Gibbons said the findings showed that the bullet had been in the chamber — if not necessarily fired from — Barefield’s gun and that the casing had markings consistent with being shot from an AR-15-styled rifle.
Many family members of Barefield, Brock and DeWitt lingered in the courtroom while the jury deliberated.
Brock’s grandfather, James Brock, showed off a binder filled with detailed pencil drawings of cars and trucks that were signed by the younger Brock. The drawings were of Toyotas and Chrevolets, Dodges and Jeeps. He drew decals, meticulously cross-hatched grilles and, in one case, a license plate resembling the Confederate battle flag.
Most of the vehicles were stationary, facing the right of the page. Some were drawn twisting and turning on rocky terrain.