More than a year after a special prosecutor decided not to pursue charges that had been filed against three local men in connection with the murder of Christopher Alvard in 2018, another prosecutor told a Carroll County circuit judge on Monday, March 11, that no decision has been made regarding whether to refile those charges.
Judge Scott Jackson, who granted special prosecutor Jack McQuary’s motion for “Nolle Prosequi with good cause” in the cases of Joshua Anderson, Charles Ky Hanna and Jason Hartley Helm in February 2023, noted during a hearing Monday in Eureka Springs that defense attorneys had objected to the “good cause” finding but that the court believed good cause existed. The good cause finding leaves open the possibility of refiling the charges. All three men had been charged with first-degree murder.
D. Jason Barrett, a special prosecutor now assigned to the case, told Jackson that an investigation into Alvard’s death is continuing and the state has made no decision regarding the refiling of charges.
Monday’s hearing drew a large crowd to the Western District Courthouse, with Carroll County Sheriff Daniel Klatt and several deputies on hand. Two Arkansas State Police troopers also were in the courtroom to testify in another case.
Attorneys for all three defendants appeared before Jackson, although the defendants themselves did not.
Anderson, Hanna and Helm were arrested on Feb. 8, 2021 — three years to the day after Carroll County Sheriff’s Office deputies who had been dispatched to check on an open door found Alvard’s body inside his home at 674 Carroll County Road 116 near Eureka Springs. The body of Alvard’s dog also was found at the scene. An autopsy later determined that Alvard died as the result of multiple stab wounds. His dog also appeared to have been stabbed multiple times. Anderson, Hanna and Helm also were charged with felony animal cruelty.
Helm had been scheduled for trial in August 2022, but his case was abruptly continued at McQuary’s request. With jury selection completed and opening statements scheduled to begin before a crowd of spectators at the Western District Courthouse in Eureka Springs on Aug. 24, 2022, McQuary moved to continue the case. Mc-Quary told Jackson that prosecutors had received new information earlier that morning that he described as “crucial” to the state’s case.
Helm’s defense attorney, Ben Catterlin, objected to the continuance, but Jackson granted McQuary’s motion.
McQuary did not elaborate on the new information and declined to comment later but it was later revealed that Anderson had decided not to testify against Helm after initially agreeing to do so.
At a hearing to consider McQuary’s motion to nolle pros the charges with good cause on Feb. 21, 2023, in Berryville, Jackson said: “The episode that occurred on Aug. 24 affected the state’s case dramatically.”
Jackson said the “nature of the evidence changed,” when Anderson refused to testify.
Fayetteville attorney Stevan E. Vowell, representing Hanna, had raised the issue of the defendants’ right to a speedy trial in a court filing in January. At Monday’s hearing, Vowell said the appropriate time to consider the speedy trial issue would be if and when charges are refiled.
