Ethan Dwayne Shattuck, charged with assaulting and threatening to kill his wife, appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division Monday.
The 27-year-old Shattuck, who lives in Baxter County but has a Calico Rock address, entered a guilty plea to charges against him including aggravated assault and was put on probation for six years.
He has been jailed since being arrested in late September last year.
The court was told that the victim thought she and her son would be better protected by a long probation sentence rather than a short prison sentence. As a condition of his probation, Shattuck is to have no contact with the victim or her son.
REPORT TO SHERIFF’S OFFICE
In late September last year, the victim came to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office to report on an incident that took place earlier that month.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the altercation began when Shattuck and his wife began arguing about the way he was talking to her oldest son.
The son, who was reported to live in a camper parked in back of the house, had come in for dinner when Shattuck is alleged to have ordered him out of the house.
The wife reported asking Shattuck to leave the residence at one point to protect the other two children who were in the home.
The victim said she went to the bedroom occupied by her two younger children and told them to put their shoes on in case they had to leave the residence.
Shattuck is alleged to have followed her into the bedroom where he told the two children – ages eight-and-ten years old – that their mother didn’t love them.
The victim told deputies she went into different rooms in the house in an effort to defuse the escalating situation but her husband followed her and continued yelling.
The victim said Shattuck eventually left the home at 9:30 p.m., but returned around 4:30 a.m. After the couple talked for about a half hour, Shattuck is alleged to have grabbed a gun, gone to the bathroom and threatened to shoot himself.
The victim went into the room and Shattuck warned that if she did not leave, he would shoot them both.
Shattuck eventually agreed to leave if the victim would take him to a neighbor’s house about a mile away.
She agreed but when they arrived, Shattuck resumed yelling at the victim, took the keys to the vehicle and her cellphone. She opened the door to get out of the vehicle, but Shattuck is reported to have grabbed her by the throat and choked her until she lost consciousness.
When she came to, Shattuck was opening the driver’s side door. He told the victim that her body was going to be found hanging in a tree and started choking her again. She was able to fight him off, get back inside the vehicle and locked the doors.
The owner of the residence came outside and convinced Shattuck to give the keys to the vehicle back to the victim. He returned the keys but kept her phone so she could not seek assistance.
Shattuck’s wife took out an order of protection to keep him away from her. The final order was issued last October and will be in effect until October 1, 2030.
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