Photo: Jimmy Lynn Sutterfield Jr.
Following a four hour bench trial Friday, Jimmy Lynn Sutterfield Jr. of Gassville was sentenced to six years in prison by Baxter County Circuit Judge John Putman and ordered to pay victim restitution of $2,100.
Three cases were tried simultaneously. Sutterfield’s charges included possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia, two counts of misdemeanor theft of property and felony criminal mischief.
The prison time was mainly assessed on the drug-related charges.
The first of the three cases was filed in mid-October 2018 and stemmed from an encounter between Sutterfield and two Arkansas State Police troopers on State Highway 126.
One of the troopers was field training the other, and they were traveling together. Both testified during the bench trial.
According to the probable cause affidavit, when the troopers pulled up to the area where Sutterfield was parked, he got out and said he was getting ready to leave the area because his “old lady just brought gas for the truck.”
Sutterfield was reported to have been “unsteady” on his feet. As the encounter continued, drugs and drug paraphernalia were found. Sutterfield was reported to have admitted drinking earlier in the day, but denied any drug usage.
A bottle of vodka was also found in the truck.
Both Sutterfield and his passenger, 30-year-old year-old Gregory Smith, were put into the patrol car to be transported to the Baxter County jail.
The next day, when the troopers checked backseat camera footage from the patrol car, they reported seeing Smith pull his handcuffs in front of him and take a bag out of Sutterfield’s pants. Smith had then hidden the bag in the headliner of the patrol car.
Troopers found the bag. It was reported to have contained syringes, other drug paraphernalia and a green leafy substance believed to be marijuana.
Smith pled guilty to his charges and was put on probation for 60 months and ordered confined for a year in one of the Community Corrections Centers in the state to undergo addiction treatment.
The next charges were filed against Sutterfield in January last year stemming from an altercation at a residence along South Avenue in Cotter two days after Christmas 2018.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the second case, Sutterfield had come to the Cotter residence apparently to have a woman described as his then girlfriend follow him back to his residence. She was reported to have been visiting relatives who lived in the house.
When she refused his request, Sutterfield is reported to have become angry and threatened to ram his pickup truck into the home the woman was visiting.
As the argument between Sutterfield and the female continued, the woman’s then 17-year-old son got involved when he believed he saw Sutterfield grab his mother.
The son said as Sutterfield was leaving the area in his truck, he threw an aluminum lawn chair at Sutterfield’s vehicle and struck it with a pitchfork. He said he was upset at the way he perceived his mother being treated.
The now 19-year-old testified during the bench trial last week when Sutterfield came to the house in Cotter, “he was yelling” the mother’s name and honking his horn “telling her to come to his truck and talk.” He described Sutterfield as “angry and drunk.”
According to testimony, Sutterfield threatened the young man that he would regret throwing the items at his truck and then drove directly into the teen’s 1994 Mustang convertible doing extensive damage. The son said he still owed $400 on the car, but the person from whom he purchased the vehicle took it back without charging him for the outstanding balance.
Sutterfield was ordered to pay victim restitution of $2,100.
When he hit the Mustang, one wheel of Sutterfield’s truck came off, and the son said as Sutterfield drove away, “he was throwing sparks.” According to the investigating officer, Sutterfield was tracked using the scoring in the road caused by the tireless wheel hub contacting the pavement.
A Cotter police officer followed the gouge mark in the pavement until he found the disabled truck. He obtained Sutterfield’s address from the vehicle registration, went to the home, located the Gassville man and took him into custody.
The third case against Sutterfield stemmed from the passing of fake $100 bills at three Gassville businesses in July last year.
When law officers talked to Sutterfield, he said someone had given him the funny money, but the story quickly fell apart. When confronted with the alleged falsity of his story, Sutterfield could provide no additional information on who was making the fake money.
The forgery charges were dismissed. According to the probable cause affidavit, two of the businesses were reimbursed. The cashier at the third rejected the bill as fake and told Sutterfield why the money was not being accepted.
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