Reasons for search cleared in threat trial

— Jurors will be able to hear how the investigation into the slayings of a toddler and her father brought Pulaski County deputies into contact with the suspects’ grandfather, who is accused of threatening an officer, a circuit judge ruled Monday.

Charles Marvin Gatrell, 73, is charged with felony terroristic threatening, accused of cursing and threatening a deputy, telling Sgt. Mike Blain that the officer had “a target on [his] forehead” while pointing at him.

In January, deputies served a search warrant on Gatrell to explore his Shamburger Lane property as part of the investigation that resulted in the arrests of his grandsons - 20-year-old Robert Todd Gatrell and 17-year-old Daniel Chase Gatrell - on capital murder, arson and kidnapping charges over the December slayings of Hannah Dowdie-Palmer, who was burned to death, and her father, 28-year-old Michael Palmer, three weeks before the girl’s second birthday.

Charles Gatrell is set to stand trial next month on the threatening charge, a Class D felony that carries a maximum six years in prison.

At a court appearance Monday, Charles Gatrell’s attorney Jason Files argued that the reason police were at his client’s home shouldn’t be disclosed at trial, telling Circuit Judge Marion Humphrey that the jurors would be too emotionally affected by the circumstances of the highly publicized homicides to be fair to his client.

“If the details are brought up at all, there’s no way the jury could not be emotionally affected,” Files said to the judge.

But the jury needs to know that investigators were authorized by court order to be at Gatrell’s home, countered deputy prosecutor Colin Wall.

“The jurors should know the reason [investigators are] appearing at the defendant’s home and that they’re not just randomly harassing this defendant,” he said.

Humphrey dismissed the defense motion, saying he thought any prejudice could be overcome by prosecutors telling the jury that the senior Gatrell wasn’t suspected of participating in the slayings.But the judge said he might reconsider the issue at trial, particularly if deputies ever suspected Charles Gatrell was involved in the killings.

Robert Gatrell was arrested the same day as the Jan. 26 encounter between Charles Gatrell and investigators. Robert Gatrell’s teenage cousin had surrendered three days earlier. Daniel Gatrell is too young to be eligible for execution, but prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Robert Gatrell, with his two-week trial scheduled for January 2011.

According to arrest reports, deputies found Palmer’s burning truck at the dead end of Wilbern Road near Sweet Home, about a half-mile from Robert Gatrell’s home, which is owned by his grandfather. Tracing the truck to Palmer, deputies learned from his parents that he’d left the morning of Dec. 12 with the toddler to visit a friend he named only as Todd. Robert Gatrell has reportedly admitted to participating in the killings while family of Daniel Gatrell have told authorities that he’s made incriminating statements about the slayings.

The bodies of the little girl and her father were found burned beyond recognition in Palmer’s pickup the day after Palmer regained custody of her. She’d been in foster care after her mother had burned her with a cigarette. The girl, found in the truck cab, had died of smoke inhalation and burns, while Palmer, dead in the pickup bed, had been shot in the head and chest.

Arkansas, Pages 7 on 09/21/2010

Upcoming Events