Parolee shot during confrontation with officers sentenced to 10 years
A local parolee who was shot by a Hot Springs police officer in 2019 after reportedly pointing a gun at officers twice was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Wednesday for firearm possession with a state trial on assault charges set for next month.
Zachary Ray Burks, 32, was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Hot Springs with Chief Judge Susan O. Hickey presiding, U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes announced Wednesday.
Under sentencing guidelines, Burks will have to serve 85%, or at least eight years and six months, before he is eligible for parole. Burks is set to stand trial on March 30 in Garland County Circuit Court on four counts of aggravated assault, each punishable by up to six years, stemming from the same incident on Sept. 18, 2019.
According to the release from Fowlkes regarding the incident, Hot Springs police were dispatched to a residential neighborhood after receiving a report of someone discharging a firearm. Officers made contact with a resident who said a man, identified as Burks, was on a boat dock on Lake Hamilton discharging a firearm.
As officers approached the boat dock, they observed Burks in possession of a handgun. Contact was subsequently made with Burks and officers recovered a .44 caliber handgun, along with multiple expended and live rounds of ammunition.
Burks is a convicted felon prohibited from possessing any firearms and a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms later confirmed the firearm was manufactured outside Arkansas so it had traveled in interstate commerce, resulting in the possession charge being transferred to federal court.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Achorn and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Trent Daniels prosecuted the case.
According to the probable cause affidavit of the incident, at around 11:22 a.m., police received a 911 call from a man who said his son had called him from 331 Chappel Hill Road stating someone was chasing him and shooting at him.
Officers arrived at the scene and were told by a neighbor there had been
shots fired at a boat dock located behind one of the residences. Officers encountered Burks on the boat dock behind the residence at 318 Chappel Hill.
The affidavit notes the boat dock was “down a steep hill 230 feet from the back of the residence.” Officers walked to the top of a stairway leading down to the dock and one officer, Matthew Cheatham, positioned himself behind a tree with a rifle so he could cover the other officers.
Burks allegedly raised a handgun, later identified as a Ruger Redhawk .44-magnum six-shot revolver, and pointed it at the officers, then lowered it. He reportedly raised it a second time and pointed it at the officers again and at that point Cheatham, “fearing the suspect would discharge his firearm at the officers on the stairs,” fired one round from his rifle, striking Burks in the right arm.
Burks then dropped his firearm and jumped into Lake Hamilton. The officers rushed to his aid and pulled him from the water and began to administer first aid. Burks was transported by LifeNet to CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs for treatment and later released. He was booked into the Garland County Detention Center shortly after 6:30 p.m. that day.
A check of Burks’ firearm determined it contained two expended cartridges and one live round in the cylinder. Eight spent .44 magnum shell casings were located on the boat dock.
As per departmental policy, the officer who fired the shot was placed on administrative leave with pay, pending an administrative investigation. Arkansas State Police investigated the incident and filed the charges against Burks.
According to court records, Burks is classified as a habitual offender. He had pleaded guilty in 2010 in Garland County to felony counts of breaking or entering and second-degree battery and was sentenced to six years in prison, but later paroled. He was previously convicted in 2009 in Hot Spring County of theft of property, residential burglary and two counts of aggravated assault and sentenced to five years’ probation.