The defense attorney representing Eric Hall Guynes — whose charges include attempted capital murder and first-degree battery — will base his case on the mental state of his client.
Deputy Public Defender Mark Cooper announced to the court last week he was requesting evaluations to determine criminal responsibility and fitness to proceed in the cases against Guynes.
The most serious charge filed against the 42-year-old Guynes stemmed from an incident in late March in which he is alleged to have attacked a man in the parking lot of a business located along State Highway 201 North.
When Mountain Home police arrived on the scene, they saw a man standing outside a vehicle and noticed the man’s neck was described as “spurting blood.”
In a somewhat bizarre twist to the case, the victim reported to officers an unknown male — later identified as Guynes — had approached and asked if the victim knew him. The victim told Guynes he was not acquainted with him and turned away.
The victim said at that point, he was hit in the back of the head and stabbed.
In a follow up interview with the victim, it was determined he had been hit from behind dazing him as he was entering his vehicle. A large rock was then smashed through the window hitting him in the side of the head.
The victim told police he was then dragged back out of his vehicle and stabbed several times in the back and his throat slashed. The victim said he was somehow able to get back into his vehicle where he pretended to be dead in an effort to prevent further, possibly even fatal, attacks.
Guynes then set the victim’s vehicle on fire with the victim inside. The victim was again able to free himself from the truck and observe Guynes leave the scene of the attack.
During the evidence gathering process, it was determined the victim had been stabbed seven times in the back, in addition to other injuries.
He was able to give officers a description of his attacker and the vehicle Guynes had been driving and a be-on-the-lookout-broadcast was sent out to all area law enforcement agencies.
The initial stabbing incident was reported about 5 a.m. on March 21st. On the same day, less than two hours later, Mountain Home Police received a call reporting another attempted vehicle theft. The victim said he was dropping his daughter off at a daycare facility. As he was returning to his vehicle from the daycare building, he saw a man inside his vehicle attempting to chose the door.
The vehicle’s owner confronted the man, later identified as Guynes, and Guynes fled.
Police arrived on the scene and found the second victim tailing Guynes and a companion. Both men were on foot at this point. Initially the two men were taken into custody. Police determined Guynes also fit the description of the suspect in the stabbing incident earlier the same morning.
The man with Guynes was questioned and eventually released.
Officers reported observing what appeared to be blood on Guynes’ pants and recovered a pocketknife with blood on it.
In addition, keys to the stabbed victim’s vehicle were found in Guynes’ minivan which had reportedly run out of fuel
A general status review of Guynes’ case is now set for October 10th.
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