True Crime Chronicles:: Logan County "self defense" killing in 2013 outside of Paris resulted in 30-year prison sentence

 Harry Freemont “Bodie” Bodine

In the rural outskirts of Paris in Logan County a long-simmering personal dispute erupted into deadly violence on the evening of May 13, 2013. Joseph Allen Stapleton, a 33-year-old local man born in Booneville on September 24, 1979, lay dead in the front yard of his father Bill Finney’s home on North Fifth Street, killed by seven gunshot wounds from a .32-caliber semi-automatic pistol.

The man who pulled the trigger, Harry Freemont “Bodie” Bodine, then 53, claimed self-defense after driving to the residence with his younger brother Brett. What followed was a trial that pitted one man’s account of fear against forensic evidence and questions about motive in a small-town setting where everyone seemed to know one another.

Stapleton had spent much of that day drinking. Toxicology reports later revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.16--twice the legal limit--along with marijuana in his system. Witnesses and trial testimony described him as intoxicated and agitated. Harry Bodine later told investigators that Stapleton charged their vehicle wielding what appeared to be a brake drum or similar heavy object.

Fearing for his life, Bodine fired repeatedly until the gun was empty. No such weapon was recovered near Stapleton’s body, however, and crime scene details included scattered beer cans, a bottle, and cigarette butts. A medical examiner, Dr. Frank Peretti from the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory, noted the wounds included a close-range chest shot fired from less than two feet away and one to the back of the head, with trajectories suggesting some shots may have been fired as Stapleton moved or fell.

The Bodine brothers did not immediately report the shooting. Harry Bodine returned the next day, May 14, under the pretense of feeding Stapleton’s dogs, and called authorities as if discovering the body for the first time.

This delay and initial denial formed the basis for the hindering apprehension charge against both brothers. Harry Bodine eventually admitted to the shooting in interviews with Arkansas State Police Special Agent Brett Pritchard and a Logan County investigator.

Bodine later claimed the confrontation occurred because Stapleton had previously beaten up Bodine's father in a previous encounter.

His brother Brett faced the same initial charges but later pleaded guilty to a reduced felony hindering count.

Harry Bodine, a Paris resident with limited public prior criminal history according to state records, stood trial in September 2014. Defense attorney John Irwin presented the self-defense narrative primarily through prosecution witnesses, arguing Bodine had reason to fear Stapleton amid their known disputes.

Deputy Prosecutor Brian Mueller countered that the volume of shots and circumstances showed intent beyond mere protection.

A jury of ten men and two women deliberated and convicted Bodine of first-degree murder and hindering apprehension or prosecution on September 30, 2014. He received 30 years on the murder charge and 10 years on the hindering charge, to run concurrently.

His projected release date remains September 24, 2034. Brett Bodine received 15 years plus five suspended after his plea deal in early 2015. He has since been paroled from the ADC prison system.

Little detailed family background emerged publicly for Harry Bodine beyond his close ties to brother Brett in the tight-knit Paris community. Stapleton’s obituary described him simply as a 33-year-old local whose memorial service drew family and friends to Roller Funeral Home in Paris later that May.

No extensive victimology painted him as anything other than a man entangled in local conflicts exacerbated by alcohol on the night of his death.

The case drew modest regional attention in western Arkansas media, highlighting tensions in small Logan County towns where grudges can linger. Bodine’s conviction stood without notable successful appeals reaching public records, and he has served his sentence at the Ouachita River Correctional Unit, classified C4 with one prior incarceration noted for this offense.

The shooting remains a stark reminder of how personal animosities, combined with impaired judgment and readily available firearms, can turn a rural evening into irreversible tragedy in the Arkansas River Valley.

For those who remember the players in this local drama, the events of May 13, 2013, continue to echo as a cautionary tale of unresolved conflicts ending in gunfire.