Attorney agrees to take JP case

Sebastian County prosecutor replaced over confl ict worries

FORT SMITH — Crawford County Prosecuting Attorney Marc McCune has agreed to act as special prosecutor in the case of a Sebastian County Quorum Court member who is accused of threatening and attacking his daughter.

In a news release from Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Shue, who asked Arkansas Prosecutor Coordinator Bob McMahan to appoint a special prosecutor, Shue’s office will draft an order designating McCune as the special prosecutor.

Shue said he asked for the special prosecutor because, as the county’s attorney, it would be a conflict of interest for his office to prosecute District 5 Justice of the Peace John Spradlin.

McCune said Thursday that he probably will be sworn in as special prosecutor next week. He said he will review police reports on the case and talk to parties and witnesses before deciding whether to file any charges.

Spradlin, 59, was arrested July 6 after his 17- year- old daughter reported to Fort Smith police that he told her he ought to kill her, pushed her against a refrigerator and grabbed her throat.

She told police Spradlin became angry because he did not like the way she completed bank documents for him.

In a speech at the start of Tuesday’s Quorum Court meeting, Spradlin denied threatening and attacking his daughter. He said it was just a “high- volume, ugly discussion.”

After his arrest, he was booked into the Sebastian County jail on charges of aggravated assault of a family member and first- degree terroristic threatening, both felonies. He is free on $ 6,500 bond.