Jordan testifies killing accidental

She admits lying to police; jury to take up deliberations today

FAYETTEVILLE — A woman charged with killing her husband last year admitted Thursday that she repeatedly lied to police about what happened but maintained that shooting her husband in the head was not intentional.

It’s undisputed that Patricia Jordan, 26, fatally shot her husband, Cody, after a heated argument. What the eight women and four men on the jury hearing the case must decide when they return at 9 a.m. today is whether the shooting was murder or an accident.

Jordan, of 440 Shorty Hill Road in Springdale, is charged with first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm. She faces 10 to 40 years or life in prison if convicted. Circuit Judge

Joanna Taylor agreed to allow the jury to also consider lesser included charges, including second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide.

Jordan testified Thursday the couple was arguing about children and other things then began arguing over a gun she was taking to her mother. Jordan said she saw Cody Jordan unload the gun before he gave it to her. Then, he wanted it back. They argued some more.

Patricia Jordan said she started to toss her husband the gun when it went off. He was in the driver’s seat, and she was outside the passenger door.

“I watched him unload that gun,” Jordan said. “I swear I did not know there was a round left in that gun.”

Jordan told jurors she had been beaten and abused in the past. Jordan said her husband had threatened to beat her during the argument and chased her around the truck at one point. She said she told him she wanted a divorce just before the shooting.

“I regret everything,” Jordan said. “I never wanted any harm to come to that man.”

Jordan gave investigators at least four stories about what happened during two interviews, eventually saying she was trying to scare her husband. Jordan added a new wrinkle during trial, that the gun had been recently worked on. In every story, she claimed she didn’t know the gun was loaded. Jordan said she lied to police earlier because she didn’t want people to think she was a monster.

A Washington County Sheriff’s Office deputy was called to a report of an accidental shooting at 7:58 p.m. Feb. 1, 2020, to assist Central Emergency Medical Services, according to a preliminary

report from the Sheriff’s Office. The deputy found Jordan standing over Cody Jordan, 34, who had a single gunshot wound to the head, according to the report.

Cody Jordan’s body had an entrance wound on the right side of his head directly above his ear, and the bullet went basically straight through, lodging above his left ear with no exit wound, said Dr. Steven Erickson, a medical examiner with the Arkansas State Crime Lab. Erickson said the fatal shot came from 6 to 12 inches away.

“It was a can’t miss gunshot wound, basically,” Erickson said.

In closing arguments Thursday, Washington County prosecutor Matt Durrett told jurors none of the various stories Patricia Jordan told were true.

“The only truth she has told is she pulled the trigger and it went off,” Durrett said. “The fact is, she deliberately shot her husband in the head. Why continue to lie if she didn’t point that gun and pull the trigger?”

Durrett further argued the forensic evidence doesn’t match Jordan’s story of the gun accidentally going off when she tossed it to her husband. Durrett said the evidence supports Jordan aiming and shooting.

“The evidence proves what happened and disproves what she said happened,” Durrett said. “The wound does not lie, and the science does not lie.”

Ben Catterlin, Jordan’s attorney, argued the case hinges on whether Jordan knew there was a live round in the gun. Jordan maintains she didn’t see her husband put bullets back in the .380 pistol after seeing him unload it earlier.

“That’s the crux of the case. Did she know there was a round in the chamber when she pulled the trigger,” Catterlin told jurors. “If there is any reasonable doubt in your mind that she knew there was a bullet in the gun, that changes everything.”

Jordan