Fired Arkansas sheriff's deputy: I need gun

Court order bars keeping a firearm

This frame grab from a police video shows Faulkner County deputies making an arrest after a high-speed chase in May 2015.
This frame grab from a police video shows Faulkner County deputies making an arrest after a high-speed chase in May 2015.

CONWAY -- A former Faulkner County sheriff's deputy appealing his misdemeanor battery conviction has asked a judge to modify a court order so that he can have a gun again for protection.

Eugene Watlington, who was fired from the sheriff's office for using what then-Sheriff Andy Shock said was excessive force, signed a no-contact order with the man he was accused of battering as a condition of Watlington's pretrial release in April 2016.

"One of the standard conditions of that order states that he may not possess a firearm," Watlington's attorney, Lee Short, wrote in a recent motion seeking to remove the gun restriction.

Short immediately appealed Watlington's conviction to Faulkner County Circuit Court after a district judge convicted Watlington in February of third-degree battery. The no-contact order remains in effect.

In a motion filed in Circuit Court, Short argued for removal of the no-gun condition on Watlington's release.

"This request was made in district court; however, Judge [Mark] Derrick said that he would require the standard condition and the next judge could do what he wanted," Short wrote.

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In a pretrial April 2016 district court motion, Short cited Watlington's need to protect himself and his family and Watlington's desire to take his children hunting. The new motion, filed in late April of this year, did not mention hunting.

"Defendant is a former law enforcement officer and desires the ability to protect himself and his family members. The existence of a public order notifying individuals" that Watlington no longer can possess a firearm "is concerning to himself and his family," Short wrote.

Short's motion said the state objects to removal of the no-gun condition.

Tom Tatum, the special prosecutor handling the case, was out of his office Wednesday afternoon and did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Short said Watlington does not have "a prior felony, prior violent offense against a family member, or any other disqualifying conviction from possessing a firearm."

"The current allegations do not involve the illegal use of a firearm," Short wrote.

"Even if convicted, Defendant would not be prevented from owning a firearm by law," he added.

The battery charge against Watlington, 44, resulted from the May 4, 2015, arrest in Conway of Harvey Martin III by sheriff's deputies after a high-speed chase from Mayflower to Conway. A videotaped recording showed Watlington repeatedly kicking Martin with his boot but not helping other deputies with the arrest.

Authorities later said they determined that a second man arrested, Christopher Cummings, had forced Martin at gunpoint to drive the car fleeing police while Cummings fired shots at the officers' vehicles.

Cummings' arrest was not videotaped.

Watlington's first pretrial hearing in Circuit Court is scheduled for 1 p.m. May 22.

State Desk on 05/04/2017

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