A man has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against his brother in exchange for avoiding a possible death sentence in the 2010 slaying of a 22-year-old Fort Smith woman.
Johnathen Thacker, 25, of Cedarville pleaded guilty to first-murder Friday beforeLeFlore County, Okla., District Court Judge Jonathan Sullivan, District Attorney Jeff Smith said Monday.
Smith agreed to dismiss a forcible sodomy charge against Thacker in return for the plea. In the plea agreement reached last week, Thacker and his attorneys agreed to accept a sentence of life in prison without parole and assured Johnathen Thacker’s testimony against brother Elvis Thacker, 26, in his trial.
“Our main goal is to get justice for Brianna Ault,” Smith said Monday regarding the decision to allow Johnathen Thacker to plead. “Statements Johnathen Thacker made will be very beneficial in the prosecutionof Elvis Thacker.”
Johnathen Thacker’s sentencing is tentatively set for Oct. 17, Smith said, but the sentencing date will depend on when his brother’s trial is held.
Elvis Thacker also is charged with first-degree murder and forcible sodomy in Ault’s death, for which thestate is seeking the death penalty.
Elvis Thacker is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday before Sullivan. But Smith said he believes the arraignment will be continued because delays in the printing of court transcripts have not allowed Elvis Thacker’s attorney to file motions on his client’s behalf.
As of Monday there have been no discussions on a plea agreement for Elvis Thacker, Smith said.
Investigators have said Elvis Thacker cut Ault’s throat at a pond in Pocola, Okla., just over the state line from Fort Smith, on Sept. 12, 2010. He killed her after forcing her to perform oral sex on him and his brother.
Authorities said the brothers had been on a methamphetamine binge and decided to rob Ault so they could buy more drugs. Elvis Thacker mistakenly believed she had won more than $1,000 at a casino.
Elvis Thacker contacted Ault by text and asked her for a ride and offered to buy the gas. But when she picked up the brothers, he gave her directions to the pond in Pocola.
At the pond, Elvis Thacker forced her to perform oral sex on both brothers and then tried to drown her after she said she didn’t have any money. She fought off the attempted drowning and Elvis Thacker pulled out a knife and cut her throat.
Fort Smith police were led to the brothers after finding a record of Elvis Thacker’s text message to Ault in her cell phone, according to police reports.
The brothers were arrested three days after Ault’s death when Fort Smith police sought them out on warrants in an unrelated rape case. They also wanted to question them about Ault’s death.
When police arrived at the Fort Smith apartment where the two were staying, Elvis Thacker attacked one of the Fort Smith police detectives, stabbing and cutting him. Another officer shot Elvis Thacker twice in the abdomen, causing wounds from which it took months for him to recover.
Elvis Thacker pleaded guilty on Aug. 29, 2011, in Sebastian County Circuit Court to attempted capital murder in the attack on the Fort Smith detective and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Johnathen Thacker pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder in the attack and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The two brothers also pleaded guilty to kidnapping in the case in which they were initially charged with rape. Elvis Thacker was sentenced to 30 years in prison and Johnathen Thacker was sentenced to 25 years.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/08/2014