Officials: Wise will not be charged

Siloam Springs man acquitted of capital murder last month

BENTONVILLE — Prosecutors declined Monday to file drug charges against a man who was acquitted last month of murder.

Cody Wise, 29, of Siloam Springs was arrested by narcotic detectives with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office in August in connection with delivery of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and furnishing prohibited articles.

He was acquitted Sept.

27 of capital murder in Madison County in the

2015 shooting death of Ronald Lee Kultgen Sr. of Garfield. Wise was free on bond in the murder case when he was arrested on the drug charges.

The drug case ended Monday when Bryan Sexton, deputy prosecutor, announced in court formal charges will not be filed against Wise.

“We didn’t believe there was enough evidence to support the filing of criminal charges,” Prosecutor Nathan Smith said.

Drew Ledbetter, Wise’s attorney, said he believes sheriff’s deputies made a illegal traffic stop and then planted methamphetamine on Wise.

“I do not believe there is a top down conspiracy at the sheriff’s office against Cody Wise,” Ledbetter said. “I believe one or more rogue officers tried to frame Cody for a crime he did not commit.”

Shannon Jenkins, a spokesman for the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, said she didn’t have any response to Ledbetter’s allegations. Jenkins said charges aren’t filed in every case.

“It happens sometimes. Our job as law enforcement is to gather as much evidence as possible, and the prosecutor makes the decision on where it goes from there. We just do our jobs to the best of our ability and try to work together with other agencies and the prosecutor’s office,” she said.

Sheriff’s detectives with the assistance of a confidential informant arranged to buy methamphetamine from Wise, according to a probable cause affidavit. They arranged a time and location for the drug deal, but didn’t let it happen, according to court documents. They made a traffic stop instead and arrested Wise.

The methamphetamine was found on Wise after a search at the Benton County Jail, the documents say.

Ledbettermade an issue in the murder case that Miguel Cordova, a former sheriff’s detective, had inappropriate communications with a witness in the case.

Cordova resigned from the Sheriff’s Office in January 2015 after being questioned in an internal investigation about his relationship with the informant. Cordova was rehired in July.

He admitted at a hearing in Wise’s murder case to sharing inappropriate text messages and photographs with the informant in 2014. He also acknowledged sending the woman an image of a nude man, but denied having a sexual relationship with her.

Cordova resigned in August for a second time from the Sheriff’s Office.

Ledbetter said Cordova was on the scene when Wise was arrested and at the jail. Cordova’s name wasn’t included in the probable cause affidavit.

Wise