Keith Palmer (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)
A Gassville man entered a guilty plea to charges in two criminal cases during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court last Monday.
Thirty-nine-year-old Keith Palmer III was sentenced to five years in prison.
Palmer was arrested in April when officers answered a call about a suspicious person sitting in a vehicle at a mobile home park.
Palmer is reported to have given the officer a name but told him he could not back it up because he did not have his ID with him. Eventually, the suspect admitted that he was Keith Palmer and that he had initially given the officer his brother’s name.
Palmer was described as “very shaky and sweating with dilated pupils.” He admitted he had taken “Fentanyl pills” about 15 minutes prior to the officers arrival on scene.
Palmer was asked how long he had been sitting in the mobile home park and replied he had no idea how much time had passed.
According to the officer, he did locate what were described as “homemade gel caps containing a white powder that tested positive for Fentanyl.”
The officer’s report did not specify how many pills were found inside the truck but did indicate the suspected Fentanyl weighed 7.12 grams.
The officer said when he attempted to conduct field sobriety tests, Palmer was unable to correctly follow commands.
When it became clear to Palmer he was to be taken into custody, he took off running on foot. He was said to have been apprehended after “a short pursuit.”
Through the years, a number of criminal cases have been opened on Palmer in Baxter and other counties. His charges have included theft of property, residential burglary, breaking or entering, possession of Fentynal, impairing the operations of a vital public facility and fleeing.
In addition to the charges Palmer picked up in April, he was also facing the revocation of a sentence he received in a 2021 case in which he was caught with methamphetamine and paraphernalia used to ingest the drug.
Palmer is also charged in Faulkner County with first degree escape and fleeing on foot.
The Faulkner County charge is connected to Palmer’s cases in Baxter County.
On April 30, Palmer was transferred from the Baxter County Detention Center to the Conway Behavioral Health Hospital because of indications he might be suicidal.
By mistake, a staff member at the facility allowed Palmer to go into an outside area that was fenced off. The area is normally off limits to people on jail holds.
The staff member tried to get Palmer back inside once she realized her error, but he did not cooperate and said he was enjoying a cigarette with a female inmate.
At one point, Palmer began running to the far side of the enclosure. He was reported to have used the back of a male who was doing pushups to help him vault the fence. The man, who had been exercising, was seen pushing Palmer’s feet up until he was able to get over the fence.
When the man was questioned, he said he had no idea Palmer was a jail hold since they are not normally allowed in the outside area. He said Palmer threatened to kick his face if he did not aid the escape.
A be-on-the-lookout was issued for Palmer. Officers believed that the balding, thin, 6-foot-9 Palmer would be relatively easy to spot, but it took several hours to get a lead.
He was not located until being spotted by a female who, ironically, worked as the director of risk for the behavioral hospital.
She alerted police, and when officers responded to the scene where Palmer had been spotted, he took off running. After Palmer ran through a wooded area and several neighborhoods, a Conway police officer was able to catch up with him and take him into custody.
He was booked into the Faulkner County Detention Center on charges of first-degree escape and fleeing. When the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office was notified about what had happened after Palmer was dropped off at the hospital, a hold was put on him.
He is scheduled for a hearing in his Faulkner County case Wednesday.
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