CONWAY -- A judge on Friday found a former Faulkner County sheriff's deputy who was fired for using "excessive force" during an arrest in 2015 guilty of third-degree battery.
Special Judge Mark Derrick set sentencing for Eugene Watlington, 44, for 1 p.m. April 7 in Faulkner County District Court unless one of the attorneys in the case has a conflict.
Third-degree battery is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable in Arkansas by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.
Under Arkansas law, defendants can appeal convictions in district court to circuit court if they wish.
Watlington's attorney, Lee Short, did not immediately return a phone message late Friday afternoon. No one answered a phone number listed in Vilonia for Amy Watlington, the defendant's wife.
Derrick, a White County judge appointed to hear the case after Faulkner County's district judges recused, heard testimony in the case Feb. 24. Evidence included a video showing Watlington repeatedly kicking Harvey Martin, who was being arrested after a gunfire-heavy, high-speed chase from Mayflower to Conway on May 4, 2015. Watlington was not helping secure Martin at the time.
Martin, 47, was treated at a hospital's emergency room and released to the sheriff's office.
Authorities later dropped charges related to the car chase against Martin after they learned his passenger, Christopher Cummings, had forced Martin to flee the police at gunpoint. The arrest of Cummings, who fired the shots at deputies' cars, was not captured on the video, recorded on a Mayflower police officer's body camera.
Derrick released his verdict in a two-sentence letter sent to the district court, Short and the case's special prosecutor, Tom Tatum.
"After considering all the evidence presented I find the Defendant guilty of Battery in the 3rd Degree," Derrick wrote. He then set the April 7 sentencing date.
The letter offered no comment on the decision, though Derrick had said at the end of the trial that he wanted to watch the video again before ruling.
Tatum said late Friday that the ruling was "what I expected."
"I felt like ... the biggest piece of evidence in the case was the video," Tatum said.
The Mayflower officer, Dalton Elliott, filmed the arrest after he joined Faulkner County deputies in chasing the Mustang carrying Martin and Cummings at speeds of more than 100 mph. Authorities have since said Martin was working undercover for Conway police the night of the arrest, though sheriff's deputies apparently didn't realize that at the time.
Former Sheriff Andy Shock fired Watlington in July 2015 after Shock concluded Watlington had used excessive force during the arrest.
Elliott testified last month that he counted "nine to 10 times" that the 6-foot-1 Watlington, who weighed 310 pounds according to his arrest warrant, kicked Martin with his boot.
Glen Cooper, a Conway police officer, testified that Martin was trying to help police locate Cummings that night. Cooper said Watlington asked him to question Martin after the arrest because Watlington said Martin wouldn't want to talk with him. Watlington then smiled and shined a flashlight on one of his boots, Cooper said.
Elliott testified that Martin did not resist arrest, but three sheriff's deputies disputed that statement. They testified that Martin tried to keep his hands under his waistband and could have been trying to get his pocketknife.
State Desk on 03/11/2017