FAYETTEVILLE -- A Washington County Circuit Court jury convicted a Springdale woman of second-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm Friday for the shooting death of her husband last year.
The jury recommended Patricia Jordan serve 20 years at the Arkansas Department of Corrections on the murder charge and 10 years on the gun charge, consecutively. Circuit Judge Joanna Taylor followed the jury's recommendation in sentencing Jordan, whose 27th birthday was Friday.
It was never disputed Jordan fatally shot her husband in the head during a heated argument the evening of Feb. 1, 2020, while in a pickup.
Jordan maintained she didn't know the gun was loaded. She also contended the shooting was accidental. Prosecutors charged her with first-degree murder.
Cody Jordan's body had an entrance wound on the right side of his head directly above his ear, and the bullet went basically straight through, lodging above his left ear with no exit wound, Dr. Steven Erickson, a medical examiner with the Arkansas State Crime Lab, told jurors Thursday. Erickson said the fatal shot came from six to 12 inches away.
"It was a can't-miss gunshot wound, basically," Erickson said.
During two interviews, Jordan gave investigators at least four stories about what happened.
She initially told a deputy she tried to give her husband the gun and it discharged, according to a report. Later, she said the gun was on the pickup's console and just went off.
In a second interview, Jordan said she pulled the trigger on the weapon "to scare Cody." She told the deputy she saw her husband unload the gun, so she thought it was unloaded.
At trial, Jordan said she started to toss her husband the gun when it went off. He was in the driver's seat, and she was outside the passenger door.
"I watched him unload that gun," Jordan said. "I swear I did not know there was a round left in that gun."
Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durrett said he and the family were pleased with the outcome, even though the jury returned a guilty verdict on the lesser charge.
"Obviously, we thought murder in the first, that's what we were hoping for, but the jury looked at everything and they weighed this stuff hard. They sat on it overnight and thought about it. So, I'm certainly not going to complain with their verdict," he said. "We got justice for Cody. That's the important thing."
Durrett said he could see how the jury decided to go with the lesser charge.
"But, I think that the scientific evidence was too strong to ignore and to write it off as an accident," he said. "So, I would surmise that they thought she didn't plan it, heat of the moment."
Durrett said the medical examiner's description of how close the gun was to Cody Jordan's head when it was fired ruled out it being an accident.
"It ruled out any story that she had," Durrett said. "I think the story that she told on the stand was totally contradicted by the medical examiner's evidence."
Cody's sister, Vanessa Osburn, said afterward the family felt justice was served.
"No amount of years will bring my brother back, and no amount of years will make us forget him," Osburn said. "Just glad he finally got his justice."
Durrett urged the jury to return a substantial prison term during the sentencing phase of the trial Friday after they had returned the guilty verdicts. He impressed upon them Jordan could, potentially, be eligible for parole after serving as little as one-fourth of their recommended sentence.
"On Feb 1, 2020, Patricia Jordan didn't just end a life, she ruined a lot of other lives. A 10-year-old boy is going to grow up without a father," he said. "This 10-year-old boy watched his father get murdered. He's going to have to live with that the rest of his life."
Ben Catterlin, Jordan's attorney, argued the case hinged on whether Jordan knew there was a live round in the gun. Jordan maintains she didn't see her husband put bullets back in the .380 pistol after seeing him unload it earlier.
Jordan told jurors Thursday she had been beaten and abused in the past. She said her husband had threatened to beat her during the argument and chased her around the pickup at one point. She said she told Cody she wanted a divorce just before the shooting.
"I regret everything," Jordan said. "I never wanted any harm to come to that man."
Catterlin asked for a more lenient sentence.
"Not all murders are the same," he said. "There are ranges for a reason."
Jordan was serving three years of probation for a drug charge at the time of the shooting. She was arrested in July 2016 in connection with possession of methamphetamine or cocaine with purpose to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia and simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, according to court records.
Jordan was released after being charged in May 2020 with Cody Jordan's murder on $125,000 bond but was arrested in August 2020 on breaking or entering charges. She was held at the Washington County Detention Center until trial and will be given credit for the time served in jail awaiting trial.