STATE NEWS (cont.)

“I have received a message … the jury has a verdict,” Judge Mark Pate said.

Faint, muffled crying was then heard from Clevenger’s siblings, sitting opposite of Bishop’s family.

“All rise,” said the bailiff, ushering in the 12 jurors— one of whom was crying while making her way to a jury seat.

“Before we begin,” Pate sternly said, “there can be no outbursts, no comments or yells [from the families].”

Six to seven armed bailiffs then assumed their positions in the courtroom, lining the isles and perimeter of the room.

“Hand the verdict form to the bailiff,” Pate told the jury. Form in-hand, he then read, “We, the jury, find Hunter Dean Bishop guilty of capital murder…” Cries of relief erupted from Clevenger’s family and friends. Their joyful sounds, however, quickly turned to grievous sobs.

Clevenger’s father, who sat with his wife and children, maintained his composure, with little expression during

Bishop also was composed during the guilty verdict, showing no visible reaction.

A 15-minute recess followed, when friends and family consoled one another with long embraces and affectionate pats on the back.

“When one of the jurors came out crying, I knew [the verdict] …,” one woman said to another.

Victim impact statements were expected to follow, in order to help guide the jury in their final phase of the trial – sentencing for Bishop, to decide whether he would live or die. They chose life.

White County Sheriff Philip Miller, who was present for the verdict, said that in his 21 years of law enforcement in White County, he recalls around 20 murder trials, but only one which “secured a death penalty,” Jack Harold Jones in 1996.

“They [the state of Arkansas] also carried out executions around four years ago,” Miller said, referring to Jones, who raped and murdered 34-year-old Mary Phillips in Bald Knob, and three individuals being put to death after having sat death row for many years.

Having witnessed those executions, Miller said “I hate to say it was a letdown, [but] putting myself in the place of those victims’ families, through the lens of remembering those crime scenes … it’s hard to say they [the victims’ families] really felt justice.”

“They [those being executed] laid there, perfectly still, calm, and got to say whatever they wanted to say, and just went to sleep,” he said. “Through the lens of the family, it’s hard to say this is really justice for the crimes they committed against their loved ones.”

When asked his thoughts on Pate’s pre-trial decision to omit Bishop’s criminal record of having previously shot a person during an armed robbery, Miller said “it’s not fair, but the criminal justice system in a trial setting is different.” He said it would be better “for the jury to be able to see the full picture of the case, but can’t [understandably] due to court procedure or laws that have prevailed.”

At the time of her murder, May 15, 2020, around 3 a.m. Clevenger was just 10 days away from her 24th birthday. She died from a single gunshot wound to the back of her head and was found laying in her bed that morning, by her father, co-worker and first responders, after she failed to arrive for her shift as a paramedic.

“Her dream was to be a flight nurse … and was attending nursing school,” her father said during his testimony earlier in the trial.

Clevenger’s stepmother, Andrea Clevenger, was overheard also sharing fond memories of “Maddie” during a court recess, saying that she had called Clevenger on the phone one day and Clevenger answered, excitedly telling her “I can’t talk right now – I just saved someone’s life!”

Arkansas Crime Lab ballistic testing of the shell casing recovered at the scene of her murder showed that her life was taken by a bullet, which exited Clevenger’s cheek, that came from her very own “Tiffany-blue” Glock, which she purchased four days prior.

The same gun was recovered by police the afternoon of the murder, from Bishop’s car during a traffic stop.

Bishop told police that his friend, Clevenger, must have forgotten her gun in his vehicle after practice shooting together two days prior. A possible motive for Bishop was entertained earlier in the trial, when the jury heard testimony from his friend, Hannah, who told them that Bishop wanted her to get him a gun in December 2019.

According to the prosecution, Hannah said he told her that he “wouldn’t kill her, but was gonna kill someone.“ Hannah did not get him a gun.

Still photographs from security footage of Bishop and Clevenger shopping for a gun together in May 2020 were displayed during the trial. “She seemed excited, but not nearly as excited as him.” 17th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Becky Reed McCoy said, directing focus to the defendant’s smile in the security footage as he held the gun.

Clevenger could be seen speaking with the shop owner, while Bishop held and aimed the gun with both hands and then maneuvered the slide over the chamber.

During the traffic stop on the afternoon of the murder, body camera footage showed Bishop wearing an appendix holster for the gun and having gun oil in his back seat, neither of which were said to have been purchased by Clevenger, but thought to be bought by Bishop for his new, Tiffany-blue gun.

The prosecutors closed their case Thursday the same way they opened it— by describing Clevenger’s character, reading a plaque that hung above her bed that said, “Always pray to have eyes to see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, a mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith in God.”