This is a roundup of felony charges filed between July 29 – Aug. 9, 2024, by the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office. Some defendants may also have misdemeanor charges against them, but they are not included here. The following names and charges, which are contained within public documents, are gathered from online court records available through ARCourts. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Here’s a rundown of felony cases filed this week:
State vs. Julie Reynolds. Possession of a Schedule I/II Controlled Substance, Class D Felony. Prosecutor: Dan Turner. Defense: Not yet listed. Reynolds, 46, of Malvern, was arrested July 9, 2024, at America’s Best Value Inn. Caddo Valley’s police chief responded there for a complaint of Reynolds’s “abnormal behavior” that had gotten progressively worse in recent days. Police seized a substance believed to be methamphetamine, which was found in the toilet. A field test showed the substance to be meth, and a Group 6 Narcotics agent noted it to be meth mixed with fentanyl based on his training and experience. The substance was sent to the state Crime Lab for positive identification.
State vs. Joshua Wesley Rutherford. Possession of a Schedule I/II Controlled Substance, habitual – class D felony. Prosecutor: Gina White. Defense: Clint Mathis. Rutherford, 42, of Arkadelphia, was taken into custody by a probation officer on June 6, 2024, for a previous offense. During the arrest on Carraway Road, Rutherford was placed into the arresting officer’s vehicle, where the officer would locate a cigarette package wrapper containing methamphetamine near Rutherford’s person. Court records say the officer had searched the vehicle prior to Rutherford’s arrest.
State vs. Jamar Lee Marks. Possession of Methamphetamine or Cocaine with Purpose to Deliver, Habitual – Class A Felony. Prosecutor: Gregory Vardaman. Defense: Not listed. Marks, 42, of Arkadelphia, became the target of an Arkansas State Police traffic stop on the night of July 12, 2024, when the arresting trooper observed a vehicle with a defective taillamp traveling north on 10th Street. During the traffic stop near Flowers Road the trooper detected the odor of marijuana and began questioning Marks about potential drugs in the vehicle, then observed a glass smoking device containing a white residue. A search of the vehicle yielded 15 small plastic bags with suspected meth/cocaine, as well as other paraphernalia. Asked where he got the contraband, Marks reportedly said he stole a bag from an unknown person and expected it to contain $50,000. Asked what his intentions were with the drugs once he realized it wasn’t money, Marks confessed he was “just going to get high.” He was then arrested and transported to the Clark County Detention Center. The meth/cocaine weighed 17 grams.
State vs. Jessica Ray Burdue. Possession of a Schedule I/II Controlled Substance – Methamphetamine, Class D Felony. Prosecutor: Dan Turner. Defense: Jonathan Huber. Burdue, 39, of Gurdon, was arrested July 2, 2024, at the parking lot of Valley Exxon after Caddo Valley’s police chief detected the odor of marijuana emitting from a parked Jeep. Once contact was made with Burdue police located marijuana, a THC vape pen, and a syringe containing a clear substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine.
State vs. Markevus Deshun Taggart. Possession of a Firearm by Certain Persons, Class D Felony. Prosecutor: Dan Turner. Defense: Clinton DeWitt. Taggart, 22, was arrested by Arkansas State Police on the morning of June 15, 2024, on Interstate 30 in Clark County. The arresting trooper took note of a speeding westbound vehicle near the 69 mile marker that slowed down in the trooper’s presence and wouldn’t pass despite the trooper’s “significantly” slower speed. After 2 miles of traveling in this fashion, the trooper pulled to the shoulder to force the vehicle to pass. During the subsequent traffic stop the trooper sniffed out the odor of marijuana. Taggart, a passenger in the vehicle, surrendered a bag of marijuana, and a query of his personal information through a crime information center revealed he had multiple active warrants in Arkansas and Texas. A search of the vehicle yielded a loaded .40 caliber handgun beneath the passenger seat. In a plea agreement on Aug. 6, Taggart was sentenced to 60 months of supervised probation and ordered to pay $1,715 in fines and fees; he was additionally sentenced to 30 days in jail for a misdemeanor drug charge. In a court order the weapon was forfeited and destroyed in accordance with state law.