FAYETTEVILLE: Plea is not guilty in stabbing death

Death penalty issue still unsettled

By Adam Wallworth

Posted: July 28, 2009 at 4:57 a.m.

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FAYETTEVILLE — A Farmington man facing capital murder charges in the June 26 slaying of his former girlfriend pleaded innocent Monday.

Ricky Ray Anderson, 41, is accused of stabbing Jill Lynn Ulmer, 26, about 30 times in her Fayetteville apartment.

Ulmer died from a combination of the stab wounds - including one that severed an artery - and a gunshot wound in the head, the state Crime Laboratory found.

Fayetteville police officers fired nine rounds at Anderson, who was uninjured, police said. However, one of the bullets ricocheted and struck Ulmer.

Anderson appeared before Washington County Magistrate Judge Ray Reynolds in a small courtroom in the Washington County jail, flanked by his attorneys and wearing an orangejail jumpsuit. His voice wavered as he replied "not guilty" to the charge.

Three deputies stood in the jail lobby while a small group gathered to watch the proceedings on closed-circuit television.

Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John Threet hasn't said whether he will seek the death penalty, having just formally charged Anderson on Friday.

Ulmer was pregnant at the time of her death. Threet said he is prohibited by law from seeking a second count of murder because the fetus was less than 12 weeks old.

Threet hasn't commented on the officers' actions the night of the slaying, but blames only Anderson for Ulmer's death.

"While [Anderson] was stabbing Jill Ulmer, his conduct caused police officers to shootat the defendant, and one bullet ricocheted and struck Jill Ulmer, which was also a cause of death," the formal charges state.

Fayetteville police cleared the two officers in an internal investigation, which reviewed their use of deadly force. The officers reported first unsuccessfully shooting a Taser at Anderson, because they thought he was unarmed.

When officers saw he had a knife, they opened fire with their pistols, police have said.

Washington County deputies conducted an independent investigation, the results of which Threet received last week. Threet declined to release the report but said he will comment on it today.

Anderson was arrested June 26 and has been in jail without bond, having violated his parole on a prior conviction. Police have said Anderson twice violated an order of protection filed by Ulmer, first on June 19 and again the day of her death.

Fayetteville lawyers Joseph Paul Smith and Roxanne Blake are representing Anderson.

Smith said they have been working on the case for about a week and are awaiting the final autopsy report. He said they haven't yet met with the police officers on the scene, for whose testimony they'll have to prepare.

"You can't say you're confident they'll find him not guilty when you have two officers testifying," Smith said.

"For better or worse, they're just people," he said. "Their testimony shouldn't be weighed any more or less than another witness."

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7, 12 on 07/28/2009

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