Footage shows suspect, guns

RUSSELLVILLE — Jurors watched surveillance footage Friday that showed Tyler Barefield carrying two firearms on the night he is accused of killing two men in his Russellville scrap yard.

The rifle Barefield held was the weapon used to shoot Aaron Brock and Beau DeWitt, both 22 of Dardanelle, prosecutors said. Investigators later recovered the rifle and linked it to a single shell casing found at the scrap yard, though not conclusively to a bullet.

After the shootings, according to the prosecution’s timeline, Barefield placed the rifle in his truck and then wielded a pistol in his right hand as he locked up an office and workshop at the scrapyard. Lead defense attorney Patrick Benca, who has said Barefield felt he was in danger, said this indicated Barefield believed a “threat” lurked outside.

Barefield, 36, who faces two counts of capital murder, is accused of fatally shooting Brock and DeWitt before placing their bodies in a car and crushing the car with a compactor.

Jurors spent much of the trial’s fourth day of testimony in a silent, chilly and packed courtroom watching the surveillance footage. Lightning flashed repeatedly on the television screen, at one point illuminating the slim Barefield as he walked through the thunderstorm, amid lapses in action that lasted for minutes at a time.

They saw Barefield sit, stand, sit and stand inside the office Sept. 16, 2016, a Friday, after he first backed his truck into the yard’s shop. He walked around the office and peered through windows. He walked back to the shop and returned to the office, carrying what appeared to be a bag. Later, he walked back into the shop holding what appeared to be the rifle.

They saw him return early the next morning, board a forklift and go into the yard.

Eight cameras were posted around the property, but none of the footage captured gunfire.

Deputy prosecutor Heather Patton, who presented the footage, did not narrate it. At times, it was difficult to see from the gallery what Barefield was doing in the video.

Jurors also heard of DNA test results — nothing directly connecting Barefield to the killings was found — and follow-up testimony from Brock’s relatives.

But they missed a testy exchange between Pope County Circuit Judge William Pearson and Benca after Pearson had earlier referred to Benca as “childish” during a sidebar conversation.

Brock’s girlfriend has testified that she dropped the men off at U-Pull-It Auto Parts of Russellville after hours Sept. 16, 2016, so that the men could steal car parts, as they had in the past. Investigators found Brock and DeWitt’s mangled bodies Sept. 20 at the yard.

Prosecutors say Barefield, wearing camouflage, shot the men that night with a scoped semi-automatic rifle after learning earlier in the day that the yard was at risk of theft because someone had cut the fence.

Barefield’s defense attorneys have said he was at U-Pull-It at unusual hours to check how newly laid gravel was faring during the storm and to watch for thieves, but that he wasn’t there to cause trouble. He legally carried the firearms for protection and fired one shot from the rifle to protect himself during a scare that hasn’t yet been described to jurors, attorneys said.

Barefield’s trial is unfolding at the Pope County Courthouse in Barefield’s hometown of Russellville, a city of about 28,000 people located nearly 80 miles northwest of Little Rock on the Arkansas River. Over four days of testimony, the prosecution has introduced more than 100 pieces of evidence. Prosecuting Attorney David Gibbons had not rested his case as of Friday’s weekend recess.