Shot that killed Arkansas man blamed on tossed revolver

Murder, meth charges filed in Ozark

An Ozark man charged Tuesday with first-degree murder told police he was tossing a gun back and forth with a friend when the gun went off in his hand and wounded his friend in the head.

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Cody Whitten, 29, has been held on a charge of first-degree murder since Aug. 17 when Cody Duncan, 23, of Altus died at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville.

The state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock concluded from an autopsy two days later that Duncan died from a gunshot wound in his head and that the manner of death was homicide, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The state charged Whitten as a habitual criminal with four or more previous felony convictions. The designation, which will be determined at trial, would allow for him to be given a longer sentence.

The state also seeks an additional 15 years for any sentence he receives for use of a firearm, court records show.

Whitten is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning in Franklin County Circuit Court in Ozark on the murder charge plus, in a separate case, two counts of delivery of methamphetamine for which he was charged last week.

He was being held in lieu of $750,000 bond, but Deputy Prosecutor Heather Patton said he also was being held on a parole violation.

Duncan was shot early on Aug. 14 at the apartment of Whitten's girlfriend, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Police said Whitten admitted being responsible for the shooting. According to the affidavit, he said he and Duncan had been tossing a revolver back and forth when it went off, and the bullet struck Duncan in the head. Police said Whitten admitted the gun was in his hand when it went off.

According to the affidavit, Whitten said Duncan had taken all but one bullet out of the gun to play Russian roulette. But when police recovered the gun, it was fully loaded with one spent round, the affidavit said.

Probable cause affidavits on the methamphetamine charges against Whitten say that on July 18 he sold 2 grams of methamphetamine to a confidential informant for $150. He sold one-eighth ounce of the drug to the informant for $200 on July 21, the affidavit said.

The sales were made during an investigation by the 5th Judicial District Drug Task Force.

State Desk on 08/31/2016

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