By CRYSTAL HOLLIS
T-H Staff Writer
St. Francis County Prosecutor Fletcher Long is still investigating the case of Nelson and Robert Hart, the two Palestine brothers who beat William McDonald of Marion, Ill. with a claw hammer at the Palestine rest area at I-40 in March of 1997.
The Harts plead guilty to first degree battery charges in the case. However, the Hart brothers received suspended sentences and served time for previous class C felonies. McDonald died this past March, four years after the incident, and the prosecutor has been investigating the possibility of charging the brothers with murder.
"I have spoken with the coroner in Williamson County, and he couldn't tell me anything," said Long. "They didn't perform a post-mortem on him (McDonald).
Long said even though the coroner and the physician know for sure by their association with McDonald that he did in fact die as a result of the beating, he could not form a case on that without a post-mortem or any other hard evidence to prove McDonald died as a result of the beating beyond a shadow of a doubt.
"There is a phrase for it, -- 'After this, there came cause for death,'" said Long. "And that's the logic that won't work. You can't go to court and say he got beat up and he died four years later, therefore he died because he got beat up."
Long said the post-mortem will show the cause of death, but it would be highly unlikely if the heart attack, which is named as the immediate cause of death, could be attributed directly to the trauma by the examination.
Long did say he backs up the claim McDonald died from the beating.
"My horseback opinion is he died from the trauma," said Long. "but I can't tell you that has a matter of fact."
Long said he will talk to McDonald's physician again to see how he could build a case for murder. "I want this case to be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt," said Long.
Regarding other reports from state news agencies which stated the brothers served time in jail for the beating, Long said, "They haven't been in prison. . .for the battery charges."
The sentences in the battery charge were suspended and Nelson Hart has been out of prison twice since convicted in 1997.
According to local officials, Nelson Hart is now residing in Palestine. Robert Hart may be released soon.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Area law enforcement officials are saying that the advent of a new blood alcohol limit will not change their procedures.
The existing alcohol limit of .10 will be dropping to .08 Monday and according to Lt. Tommy Wicker with Troop D of the Arkansas State Police in Forrest City the changes in the limit won't effect enforcement much.
"All lawmakers did was change the standard that we have to enforce the law by. It won't change our patrols or the way that we determine if an individual is driving while intoxicated. Our field sobriety tests will remain the same, it's only the breath-a-lyzer test which will be affected. Now we will just have to read it at a lower level. We will still be able to ticket people for levels between .05 and .08 at the officers discretion so nothing on our end is really changing," said Wicker.
Forrest City Police Chief Clarence McNeary echoed the sentiments of Wicker saying, "All of our work will still be the same.
"We'll continue to enforce the law and continue to try to crack down on drinking and driving. This change won't effect the way that our patrols work or anything like that. It simply means that people can no longer drink as much and drive. We still say that if you're going to drink, don't drive."
The St. Francis County area fire fighters will be washing cars to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association at the Goodyear parking lot on Washington and Garland Streets on Saturday, Aug. 11, from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. - or later. According to Caldwell fire fighter Kevin Renigar, coordinator of the MDA drive, the fire fighters will wash cars for the time being to "fill the boot" for MDA.