BENTONVILLE -- The relationship a former Benton County sheriff's office detective had with a confidential informant continues to be an issue in a murder case.
Cody Wise, 29, of Siloam Springs is accused of killing 53-year-old Ronald Lee Kultgen Sr. of Garfield. Kultgen's body was found Aug. 29, 2015, in a rural area near Clifty in Madison County.
Wise's jury trial is to begin Sept. 24.
Drew Ledbetter, Wise's attorney, filed a motion Wednesday seeking to have Chasity Humphries prohibited from being called as a prosecution witness.
Humphries was in a relationship with Wise and was also a confidential informant for the Benton County sheriff's office, according to Ledbetter's motion.
Miguel Cordova was a narcotics detective for the sheriff's office before resigning in January 2015 after being questioned in an internal investigation concerning inappropriate communications with Humphries.
Cordova testified at a hearing last month and admitted to exchanging inappropriate messages and photographs with Humphries.
Washington County Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay ordered the sheriff's office to turn over information related to forensic review of Cordova's county cellphone.
Capt. Kenneth Paul, who heads the criminal investigation division for the sheriff's office, testified that he thought the information concerning the forensic check of Cordova's phone was in the file, but the information couldn't be found.
The judge ordered the sheriff's office to find the information, but it couldn't be found, according to a motion filed by Ledbetter.
Ledbetter said in his motion that Dennis Schumacher, a former detective with the sheriff's office, told him he placed copies of the data and forensic report from Cordova's phone in the internal case files and in his files. According to the motion, Schumacher said his case file should be in the cyber-crimes office and if not, someone did something with the information, according to Ledbetter's motion.
Ledbetter accused the sheriff's office of willfully hiding the information or destroying it, according to court documents.
Meyer Gilbert, chief deputy for the sheriff's office, declined to comment on Ledbetter's motion.
Ledbetter wants the judge to prohibit Humphries from testifying because law enforcement failed to preserve potentially useful evidence.
Washington County prosecutor Matt Durrett filed a motion this week seeking to prevent Ledbetter from introducing evidence during the trial about Humphries' relationship with Cordova.
Durrett's motion claims any possible interactions between Humphries and Cordova happened before the crime and are irrelevant to the murder case.
Wise was free on $250,000 bond. He was recently arrested in connection with drug charges and is being held in the Benton County jail in lieu of $25,000 bond.
State Desk on 09/01/2018