Melva Sellers of rural Mountain Home admitted during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday she lied to law enforcement officers regarding a hatchet attack resulting in her son’s arrest.
The 75-year-old Sellers pled guilty to filing a false report and was sentenced to three years probation and fined $5,000.
In early 2017, Sellers alleged her son, Bradley Sellers, had attacked her with a hatchet during a heated argument at the home the two shared along Timberlane Road.
She told investigators her son had become angry with her because he had been put on probation and blamed his mother for his problems with the law.
She said her son had gotten a hatchet and threw it at her during the confrontation, and he had also put the hatchet up to her neck and threatened to kill her. In an affidavit seeking an order of protection filed around the time of the alleged attack, Melva Sellers said her son had told her he wanted to “kill you so bad. I’m going to do it sooner or later.” The mother said she had told her son to “go ahead and do it.”
Melva Sellers appeared in circuit court in January and recanted her statements in the affidavit and to the Baxter County deputy sheriff who responded to the original disturbance call.
She told the court it was not her son, but some unidentified man who had actually threatened her with the hatchet. She was unable to identify him, telling the court she and her son maintained an “open house” policy allowing people to stay in their home when the people had no place else to go.
Because of that policy, Melva Sellers told the court, people came and went frequently, and she was not acquainted with all of them. She said having her son arrested was part of a somewhat bizarre plan to get rid of a woman who had a relationship with him. The mother said the woman had been feeding her false information about her son, including saying he was addicted to methamphetamine.
The mother said she planned to falsely accuse her son of attacking her with the hatchet hoping he would be charged with a misdemeanor, landing him in jail and keeping him out of the house long enough to give her an opportunity to get rid of the unwanted female.
She told the court she was unaware her son could be charged with a felony based on what she had reported to law enforcement.
The state did drop charges against Bradley Sellers. Fourteenth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge said the type of charges Bradley Sellers faced were “victim driven,” and if the victim was unwilling to proceed with the case or was untruthful in information provided to authorities, the state had little choice but to drop the charges.
Melva Sellers entered the guilty plea in rather quick fashion. She had been arrested on the false report charge May 9th. Judge Gordon Webb asked Sellers if she wanted more time so a lawyer could work on her case. She answered, “More time would not change anything. I would still plead guilty.”
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