No deal yet for Blewett

Thomas Kevin Blewett

For the second time in less than three weeks, an anticipated plea deal for accused murderer Thomas Kevin Blewett did not happen during a pretrial hearing on Thursday, June 4.

Instead, special judge Gary Arnold granted a motion by Carroll County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Rogers, who asked for time to investigate new information his office received earlier in the week. Arnold reset the case for a hearing at 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 17.

Blewett, whose 19th birthday will be June 19, remains scheduled for trial beginning Monday, June 22, in the July 2025 shooting death of 19-year-old Alexzander Drake Bernhardt of Green Forest.

Defense attorney W.H. Taylor did not object to Rogers’ motion to continue the June 4 hearing.

Blewett, who is free on a $250,000 bond, is charged with first-degree murder as well as two counts of tampering with evidence. Family members of Bernhardt said before a May 18 hearing that they had been advised by Rogers of plans for a plea agreement that would allow Blewett to plead guilty to manslaughter.

No plea agreement was mentioned during the May 18 hearing, however. Instead, Carroll County Circuit Judge Scott Jackson said he had received mail from individuals who were unhappy with the proceedings, and that those letters would be entered as evidence. Jackson also disclosed that his daughter, who recently graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law, had worked as a clerk in Taylor’s law firm while attending law school. Jackson said his daughter had no knowledge of any cases he might preside over, and Taylor said she had been instructed “not to touch any files” involving Carroll County cases.

Jackson recused from the case two days later, citing “a conflict.”

Arnold, a retired circuit judge from Saline County, was appointed by Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Karen Baker to preside over the case on May 22.

During a brief hearing Monday, June 1, in Carroll County Circuit Court in Berryville, Arnold scheduled the June 4 hearing. During the June 1 proceedings, Taylor said: “We believe that we’ll dispose of the case at that time.”

Instead, Rogers filed a motion the following day seeking a continuance, writing that prosecutors had “received information during the course of an interview” and needed additional time to investigate.

Arnold did not rule on Rogers’ motion before the June 4 hearing.

Protesters including relatives of Bernhardt gathered outside the courthouse before the June 4 hearing, just as they had before the May 18 proceedings.

According to an affidavit filed in the case, deputies dispatched to Carroll County Road 435 north of Oak Grove on July 9, 2025, found the 19-year-old Bernhardt lying in the roadway with a fatal gunshot wound.

Arkansas State Police Special Agent Jana Cordes wrote in the affidavit that Blewett allegedly shot Bernhardt in the forehead while the two were riding in a 2016 Kia Soul with two other occupants. Investigators allege Blewett then removed Bernhardt’s body from the vehicle, attempted to clean the interior and helped conceal the vehicle in a wooded area near Oak Grove.

Witnesses later told investigators that Blewett was holding a tan 9-millimeter pistol immediately after the shooting and allegedly said, “I’m gonna go to prison for life,” according to the affidavit.

The affidavit says Green Forest police officer Tommy Blewett — the defendant’s father — later contacted dispatchers with information about the vehicle’s location. During a November bond hearing, Rogers said Tommy Blewett was “not cooperating” with investigators and said the elder Blewett’s cellphone had “pinged at a farm pond at 3:30 a.m.” near where Bernhardt’s body was discovered.

Rogers also said in March that investigators recovered a 9-millimeter shell casing and an AR-9 rifle during the investigation, but that the handgun believed to have been used in the shooting had not been recovered.