Prosecutors get OK for mental records
Judge rules in Maumelle slaying case
Prosecutors will be allowed to access medical records of a 39-year-old Maumelle man accused of murdering a Corrections Department officer, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson ruled on Wednesday, three weeks after he had denied them permission.
Demark Jordan is charged with capital murder, attempted capital murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He’s been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, with a further finding that he was insane to the extent that he could not control himself when Sgt. Joshua Daniel Caudell was fatally shot while part of a law-enforcement team tracking Jordan with dogs in February 2022.
Arguing that the diagnosis shows Jordan cannot be held criminally responsible for his conduct, his lawyers are seeking to have him acquitted on mental-health grounds through a ruling by the judge that Jordan is innocent by reason of mental illness. A hearing is set for July for the judge to decide.
Prosecutors said they needed the materials, all relating to mental evaluations conducted on Jordan, for their own expert to review ahead of that hearing to determine whether they have grounds to challenge Jordan’s diagnosis.
Johnson had deemed the materials to be shielded by medical privacy laws. The judge changed his position on Wednesday in light of arguments by Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones and chief deputy Kelly Ward that the Arkansas Rules of Evidence exempt the materials from privacy protections. The Rules specifically state such materials are not shielded for defendants invoking an insanity defense, who must prove they are mentally ill in court, the prosecutors said.
“The defendant’s assertion of the affirmative defense of lack of criminal responsibility requires that he prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he was not able to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or that he was not able to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law,” a prosecution motion states.
A ruling by the judge that Jordan is innocent due to mental illness does not mean he will go free immediately. Such a ruling would move Jordan to the custody of the state where he would go through another mental evaluation to determine a treatment program. He would then be required to undergo treatment under court supervision, which could last indefinitely
Caudell’s encounter with Jordan occurred after he brought prison-department dogs to join a law-enforcement team looking for Jordan after sheriff’s deputies came under fire at Jordan’s Maumelle home. They had gone there to check on his wife and their children. A friend had called deputies fearing that something had happened to them.
The dogs led Caudell’s team to a mobile home where someone hiding underneath it shot at the officers, fatally wounding the married father of four in the chest. Officers were able to secure the home after an exchange of gunfire with the shooter, who had disappeared. Jordan was arrested the following day and has been jailed ever since.