Coroner faces trial in attack on father
Posted on Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Cleburne County Coroner Dwight Olmstead ran unopposed for re-election this month from a jail cell, where he is awaiting trial on suspicion of trying to kill his father.
Deputy coroners are handling Olmstead’s official duties while he sits in the Cleburne County jail, accused of shooting his father, Tom Olmstead, at the family’s 112-year-old funeral home business in Heber Springs last year.
Dwight Olmstead was arrested and charged with attempted murder and second-degree battery. He was released on bond, but his bond was revoked when Olmstead, 57, violated the terms of his release by vandalizing his father’s van, Cleburne County Deputy Prosecutor Tommy Smith said Monday.
Dwight Olmstead has been held without bail since Oct. 6, pending his trial early next year.
County coroners are elected every two years in Arkansas. Like county sheriffs, clerks, assessors and treasurers, coroners often hire deputies to handle the duties of the office when they cannot, said Leonard Krout, the coronerelect in Pope County and president of the Arkansas Coroners Association.
Krout said he’s received some inquiries from citizens in Cleburne County about whether the jailed coroner can authorize his deputies to handle his duties.
“He can do that,” Krout said, as long as he’s not been convicted of a felony or been removed from office in an election or by a court.
County coroners are responsible for all deaths that occur outside of medical facilities, as well as all violent deaths, fatal accidents, suicides and industrial fatalities, Krout said. They also must be notified of all deaths in emergency rooms, operating rooms, obstetric wards, nursing homes and hospices.
Olmstead filed for re-election in May and was unopposed on the November general ballot, an official with the Cleburne County clerk’s office said.
Olmstead is an old name in Cleburne County, where five generations have owned and operated the Olmstead Funeral Home. Family members have also been elected county coroner for decades.
“The Olmsteads have held the coroner’s position for probably 40 years,” Smith said. Tom Olmstead was coroner for many years, he said, followed by son Dwight, who has held the office for “at least 20 years.”
But in recent years, father and son have sued each other in civil court over control of the funeral home business. Dwight Olmstead opened a competing funeral home near the family funeral home.
On the morning of Feb. 17, 2007, the Heber Springs Police Department received reports of shots being fired at the family business. Officers arrived to find Dwight Olmstead with a gunshot wound to the abdomen and his 75-year-old father with a gunshot wound to a leg.
Investigators said Dwight Olmstead was apparently involved in a domestic dispute with his father, and both were wounded during an exchange of gunfire. Within a few months, the younger Olmstead was arrested and accused of trying to kill his father.
Smith said the case has split the city of 6, 432 residents.
“It’s just a small-time town, and everybody knows everybody,” the deputy prosecutor said. “It’s just unfortunate. It’s got the whole community divided.”
Dwight Olmstead was free on bond when he was arrested a few months ago and accused of violating the terms of release by having contact with his purported victim.
According to Smith, Tom Olmstead had parked his van in Heber Springs and left the vehicle. “While he was gone, Dwight Olmstead was seen by witnesses throwing something into the open window of the van,” Smith said.
The object turned out to be an open container of varnish or shellac, which caused some $ 2, 000 damage to the vehicle.
Circuit Judge John Dan Kemp revoked Dwight Olmstead’s bond and ordered him jailed until his trial, which is scheduled for February in Independence County. Kemp had previously granted a motion to move the trial from Cleburne County.
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