A former Lonoke County reserve deputy pleaded guilty to killing his wife in 2013 and has been sentenced to life in prison.
In a negotiated plea March 13, Charlie Bryant Jr., 39, told the court that he was guilty of tampering with physical evidence and first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Sharae Bryant, according to Lonoke County court documents.
The judge also issued several no-contact orders to bar Charlie Bryant from contacting his four children and members of Sharae Bryant's family.
On Dec. 19, 2013, at 8:34 a.m., police responded to a call at Bryant's home on Watercrest Lane in Austin, where they discovered Sharae Bryant's body in the driveway with a gunshot wound to her head. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Charlie Bryant was found about 12 feet from his wife with a single gunshot wound to his left side.
Charlie Bryant initially told authorities that his wife had shot him in the driveway and that he returned fire in self-defense. Video surveillance equipment at the home, however, showed Charlie Bryant chasing his wife, standing over her at the driver's door of her vehicle and shooting her in the head.
The video also showed that Charlie Bryant walked about 10 feet away and shot himself. Charlie Bryant was then seen on the video crawling back to his wife's body, and it appeared that he placed something by her body then crawled back and laid down in the area where he shot himself.
He is listed on the Arkansas Department of Correction website as an inmate at the Varner Unit in Gould.
State Desk on 03/24/2015