Attorney seeks to suppress evidence in murder case
BENTONVILLE — The attorney for a former police officer questions the validity of a nighttime search warrant and wants the items gathered excluded as evidence.
Grant Hardin, 48, of Garfield is charged with capital murder. Hardin is accused of killing James Appleton, 59, on Feb. 23. Hardin pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail in the Benton County Jail.
Shane Wilkinson, Hardin’s attorney, filed a motion last week seeking to suppress evidence gathered during what the motion describes as an illegal search.
James Chamberlain, a Benton County Sheriff’s Office detective, obtained a warrant to search a white Chevrolet Monte Carlo at 15616 Gann Ridge Road in Garfield at 3:38 a.m. Feb. 24. The warrant, signed by Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren, was served at 4:30 a.m., according to Wilkinson’s motion.
Search warrants must be used between 6 a.m and 8 p.m., but there are exceptions, according to the motion.
The conditions to use a search warrant at night include:
• The place to be searched is difficult to access quickly;
• The objects being seized are in danger of being imminently removed; and
• The warrant can only be executed safely at nighttime.
Check marks were placed on lines next to items concerning objects seized and the safety at night on Hardin’s search warrant. There was no information on the warrant detailing concerning items being removed and the warrant could only be executed at night.
The law requires a factual basis for a nighttime warrant, according to Wilkinson’s motion. The motion claims the warrant lacked any factual basis for a nighttime search.
The motion seeks to suppress blood swabs taken from the hood of Hardin’s car and other evidence seized from the vehicle.
Prosecutors haven’t filed a response to the motion. Hardin’s next hearing is set for June 19.
Gateway Mayor Andrew Tillman, Appleton’s brother-in-law, was on the phone with him when he was fatally shot, according to court documents. Appleton worked for Gateway.
Appleton was shot in the head while sitting in his parked truck on the side of Gann Ridge Road, according to court documents.
A witness told deputies he saw a white car behind Appleton’s truck. The man said he saw the driver and he heard a loud bang after he passed the two vehicles. The man said he turned around and saw Appleton’s body in his truck, according to the affidavit.
The man told police the driver of the car was Hardin, according to court documents. The man said he had known Hardin all his life, and Hardin previously worked for the Gateway Police Department.
County records show Hardin served two terms as constable for Benton County District 1 from 2009-10 and 2013-14. Hardin was hired Jan. 31, 2016, as Gateway’s police chief and resigned four months later.
Hardin also worked for Northwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Fayetteville, according to Dina Tyler, the agency’s deputy director of communications and public affairs.