A new judge was appointed Wednesday to preside over the case surrounding the death of former state Sen. Linda Collins, in which one woman has been arrested and faces a capital murder charge.
The former Republican senator was found dead in her Randolph County home on June 4. A former campaign aide, Rebecca O'Donnell, was arrested the following week.
Collins, who was known by the surname Collins-Smith through two stints in the state legislature, had been married to Philip Smith, a retired judge in Arkansas' Third Judicial Circuit covering several counties in the northeastern corner of the state.
Two other judges who had served with Smith on the same circuit, Tom Garner and Harold Erwin, had presided over preliminary matters in the homicide case, including issuing an order to seal records related to the case and a hearing at which O'Donnell was ordered held without bail.
On Wednesday, however, Supreme Court Chief Justice Dan Kemp issued an order appointing retired judge David Goodson, who resides in a separate circuit in Greene County, to hear the case.
Kemp's order was made at the request of Judge Erwin, however it does not state a reason for the request.