A Holiday Island man accused of stabbing his father to death in November 2021 will undergo a court-ordered mental examination to determine whether he was insane at the time of the slaying.
Gabriel Brotherton was arrested Nov. 10, 2021, and admitted to killing his father, Richard, according to a probable-cause affidavit. Carroll County Sheriff’s Office deputies found Richard Brotherton’s body that morning in the front yard of a residence on Apache Drive in Holiday Island.
According to the affidavit, Gabriel Brotherton told an investigator that he and his father had a verbal argument and his father assaulted him. Brotherton told the investigator that he stabbed his father with a black-handled knife with a black blade and then placed the knife in his bedroom, the affidavit says. Investigators found the knife, with what appeared to be blood on it, on a bedside table in Brotherton’s bedroom, the affidavit says. The slaying came less than a month after
The slaying came less than a month after Brotherton was released on bond after being arrested on charges of terroristic threatening and third-degree assault on a family or household member. There was an active no-contact order in place at the time of the slaying.
Richard Brotherton, 50, was an Army veteran who had served in Iraq. He purchased the home in Holiday Island in May 2021.
Gabriel Brotherton was 26 at the time of his father’s death.
Carroll County Circuit Judge Scott Jackson signed an order June 14 calling for the mental exam for Gabriel Brotherton, to be conducted Sept. 12 at the Arkansas State Hospital in Little Rock.
“It appears to the Court that the defense of mental disease or defect has been raised on behalf of the defendant, and has or will become an issue in this case, and that the defendant should be examined by Dr. Farhat, Arkansas State Hospital, Fayetteville, Arkansas, to determine whether or not there are reasonable grounds to commit this defendant to the State Hospital for observation and examination.”
Jackson’s order says Farhat will report “his findings as to whether or not there are reasonable grounds to believe the defendant to be presently insane or that he was insane at the time of the alleged offenses.”
Jackson’s order instructs the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office to transport Brotherton for an appearance at the Arkansas State Hospital in Little Rock on Sept. 12.
A separate order signed by Jackson on July 6 instructed the sheriff’s office to transport Brotherton to an appointment with a Fayetteville psychologist on July 8.
In March, Jackson suspended proceedings in Brotherton’s case pending a mental evaluation.
Although the proceedings remain suspended, a pretrial hearing for Brotherton is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 15, in Carroll County Circuit Court in Berryville.
Brotherton pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in December. He is being held at the Carroll County Detention Center in Berryville on a $1 million bond.
