Killer gets 30-year term

A Pope County man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the 2016 shooting death of Ricky Partin.

Christopher Gerald Weston, 38, of London, pleaded no contest to the first-degree murder charge, according to a sentencing order filed Monday in Johnson County Circuit Court.

Weston told a confidential informant that he killed Partin, shooting him so many times in the face that nobody would be able to recognize him, according to an affidavit from Mark Brice of the Arkansas State Police.

Weston told the informant the body was on private property off a county road near Arkansas 359. Lt. Jeff Wood with the Johnson County sheriff's office went to the location and found Partin's body there, according to the affidavit.

Partin died of multiple gunshots, Brice wrote. Seven 9mm shell casings were found in the area.

Partin was last seen alive June 10, 2016, when he left a Pope County residence in his Chevy pickup with his dog and Weston -- wearing an "armored vest" and carrying a pistol -- as a passenger, according to the affidavit.

Later that day, Weston arrived at the informant's home in Partin's truck with his dog, Brice wrote.

Weston painted the pickup black and a few days later abandoned it in a bean field in Yell County, according to the affidavit. Police found it there June 22, 2016, the same day Partin's body was found.

A Pope County sheriff's deputy had stopped Weston on June 20, 2016, after he attempted to flee in a white pickup. During a search of the truck June 23, 2016, police found Partin's driver's license, Social Security card, vehicle registration, Best Western reward card and three of Partin's checkbooks, Brice wrote.

Investigators obtained bank records and video of Weston trying to cash checks in Little Rock on Partin's account on June 11, 2016, according to the affidavit.

NW News on 06/29/2018

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