North Little Rock woman says husband didn't shoot her; 'don't know why' he is jailed, she tells judge

The wife of a 33-year-old North Little Rock man accused of shooting her told a Pulaski County circuit judge this week that her gunshot wound was self-inflicted, just like he told police who arrested him.

Terry Lee Harris has been jailed since his March arrest about 4½ hours after North Little Rock police found Kimberly Denise Chattmes bleeding from a gunshot wound on the right side of her head at the couple's Maple Street home.

Harris is charged with first-degree domestic battering and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He's scheduled to stand trial in August. He was on parole at the time of his arrest.

The charges typically carry up to 55 years in prison because they involve the use of a gun, but Harris' criminal history and allegations that at least one of Chattmes' children witnessed the shooting qualify him for an extended sentence.

"I shot myself," Chattmes testified on Wednesday.

Chattmes was in court to ask Judge Herb Wright to cancel his order barring Harris from contacting her. The judge agreed to rescind the order after Chattmes testified that she shot herself and did not understand why her husband had been arrested.

"I don't want it [the order]," she said. "I don't know why my husband is locked up."

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Chattmes, 30, testified while holding two bottles of prescription medication she had brought to court with her. Just before she was called to the witness stand to be sworn in to testify, she worried aloud that she might suffer an anxiety attack and could need her medication.

Court records show Chattmes spent about two months in 2014 at court order in the State Hospital while doctors determined whether she was fit to stand trial on a firearm charge.

She was released after doctors concluded that, although she had a mental disorder, it would not affect her ability to understand the proceedings and assist her lawyer, according to the mental evaluation report.

Chattmes has been on probation since July 2010 when she pleaded guilty to two counts of felony theft for two shoplifting arrests in 2009, court records show.

Her probation was extended by another four years in July 2014 when she pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. She had pawned a gun at a North Little Rock pawnshop in January 2013, court filings show.

County records show Chattmes and Harris have been married since August 2015. According to arrest reports, a pre-dawn call about a medical emergency brought police to the couple's Maple Road home in March.

According to police reports, Harris appeared to be drunk when officers arrived, had blood on his clothing and couldn't immediately explain to police what had happened to his wife.

Chattmes' four children were in the house when she was shot, and one of them reported seeing Harris with a gun before and after her mother was shot, the report said.

Harris told police he had handled the weapon, but said that Chattmes had shot herself while playing with the gun.

He is being held without bond and has convictions for marijuana possession, cocaine possession and possession of stolen property dating back to 2003.

His first prison sentence was for five years in June 2005 for drug-paraphernalia possession in Faulkner County.

In December 2006, Harris was arrested in the 700 block of Water Street by North Little Rock police, who found him standing in the middle of the street waving his arms and screaming at passing cars, court filings show.

During a search, officers found a cellophane wrapper containing five yellow tablets that Harris said were hydrocodone pills. He pleaded guilty in that case and was sentenced to probation in August 2007.

His next prison sentence was for 10 years for methamphetamine trafficking in April 2011 in Lonoke County, court filings show.

Harris' most recent conviction is for cocaine possession and public intoxication, stemming from his July 2014 arrest outside his then-residence at 1407 W. 49th St. in North Little Rock.

Police had been called to the area to investigate a complaint of a disturbance and found a staggering Harris, smelling of alcohol, an arrest report said. As officers approached him, he dropped a small bag containing 18.3 grams of cocaine, more than a half-ounce, court records show.

He was sentenced to a year in a prison drug facility and six years on probation in October 2015.

Metro on 07/08/2017

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