Heth man convicted of murder released from county jail

A Heth man convicted of murder last month has been released from the St. Francis County Jail while awaiting bed space in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

St. Francis County Sheriff Bobby May said he made the decision last week to release Pulliam based on a Covid situation inside the jail.

May said Pulliam was released for “street time” until he has to report state prison. “It’s not unusual for judges to give people street time,” said May.

When asked which judge made the decision, May responded, “No judge gave it. I gave it on my own. I don’t know when he is going to go to prison. We have no paperwork on him and the prison is in the same situation we’re in. I had to do what I had to do.”

According to May, Pulliam is only required to report in to county officials once a week.

“He still has a six-year prison sentence hanging over his head when he goes to prison,” said May.

On Sept. 15, a jury found Pulliam, 48, guilty of seconddegree murder in the death of Donald Dishon, 52, who was killed in September 2018 during a gunfight with Pulliam that stemmed from a property dispute. He was originally charged with capital murder, which was reduced to firstdegree murder before the trial began.

Pulliam and Dishon were involved in a dispute over a mobile home, and Pulliam hired three men to clean the mobile home out. Dishon reportedly arrived at the residence while the men were working, brandished a firearm and threatened the workers, who notified Pulliam. Pulliam drove to the residence, calling the sheriff’s department while en route. Once there, he and Dishon exchanged gunfire.

Prosecutors said Pulliam shot Dishon in the back, and when he fell to the ground, Pulliam walked over and shot him twice in the head. When police arrived, they found Pulliam sitting in his truck, where he had reloaded his handgun. The State Medical Examiner determined Dishon had been shot five times.

Although sentenced to prison for the murder, Pulliam still has at least one more criminal case to be decided in St. Francis County.

He was arrested in April this year, while on bond for Dishon’s murder, and charged with abuse of an endangered or impaired person after being accused of stealing money from an elderly woman, whose family told police she suffers from symptoms affecting her memory.

In April, he was ordered to be held on a $1 million cash bond in that case, but during a court hearing soon after his arrest, the bond was reduced to $250,000 and he was released again from custody.