Dan Wessels of Flippin, who is charged with making threats directed at a then Circuit Court Judge and a relative who had custody of his daughter, appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday in an effort to have evidence in his case thrown out.
Wessels had been involved in a legal wrangle involving his domestic situation, including custody questions. Court records in Marion County show that Wessels has had orders of protection filed against him and has filed them against others for at least the past three years.
According to the probable cause affidavit in his Baxter County case, the 56-year-old Wessel came to the office of Mountain Home attorney Emily Reed on September 27th last year. During the conversation, he is alleged to have announced that he intended to handle his legal situation himself by killing everyone associated with his cases. He is reported to have made specific reference to two people — then Circuit Judge Shawn Womack who authorized the issuance of an order of protection against Wessels, and his mother-in-law who had custody of his daughter.
Womack is now a sitting associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Reed is reported to have said that Wessels seemed distraught and hopeless because of medical, legal and financial problems and not being able to see his daughter in some time and she reported the threats to authorities. In an earlier court appearance, Wessels had made the comment that his life “has been on the skids” for a number of years.
Wessels attorney, Jeremy Friend, has filed a motion to suppress the statements that his client allegedly made to Reed, contending that the discussions between Wessels and Reed were confidential and protected, and that Wessels had not given permission for the communications to be reported to a third party. Friend described what his client had said in Reeds office as venting his frustration at his situation. 14th Judicial District Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kerry Chism told the court that Wessels threats fell outside information that he needed to exchange with Reed in the normal course of a custody battle representation discussion, and that the threats should have been reported.
The Rules of Professional Conduct, for example, deal with the issue of the confidentiality of information and lay out situations where a lawyer may revel information provided by a client. One of the reasons listed is to prevent the commission of a criminal act.
Circuit Judge John Putman said he would take the issue under submission and have a ruling within the next few days.
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