A jury of six men and six women was selected Monday afternoon in Miller County to decide if a Horatio, Ark., man is guilty of raping a woman who accepted a ride from him at a Texarkana, Ark., nightclub last year.
Gary Lynn Bevis, Sr., 45, is accused of beating and raping a woman he met Nov. 1, 2015, through mutual acquaintances at the Electric Cowboy, according to a probable cause affidavit. Bevis is facing 10 to 40 years or life in prison if convicted.
The alleged victim told police she and Bevis stopped at Mr. D's nightclub after leaving the Electric Cowboy. Mr. D's was closing down for the night, and the manager asked a bartender who was cleaning up to ask the woman and Bevis to leave. The bartender told police the woman asked him for a ride, but he was unable to leave.
The woman and the bartender exchanged phone numbers before the woman allegedly left the second club with Bevis.
The bartender at Mr. D's was almost home when he called the woman to check on her, and she allegedly told him she'd been beaten and raped. The woman, who was unsure of her exact location, was on the side of Mandeville Road, naked and bleeding. The bartender turned around and began heading toward the area he believed the woman to be when he spied the red truck he'd seen her and Bevis leave in earlier in the morning. The bartender followed the truck and called police.
The bartender trailed the truck as it drove into Ashdown, Ark., where it was stopped by local law enforcement. Bevis was arrested on DWI charges and booked into the Little River County jail.
About 5:54 a.m., a detective found the distraught woman on the roadside in the 4700 block of Mandeville Road. The woman pointed out a shirt and a belt with the letter B on the buckle, which she alleges her attacker left behind when he fled. When Bevis was arrested in Ashdown, he was not wearing a shirt or a belt.
The rape charge pending against Bevis is not the first allegation of sexual misconduct he has faced. In 2001, Bevis pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse involving a girl younger than 14. Bevis touched the girl inappropriately at different times in 1998 and 1999, court records show. Bevis received a four-year term of probation, which he successfully completed.
Bevis is free on bond, having posted $100,000 bail on Nov. 5, 2015. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell is handling the case for the state. Bevis is represented by Texarkana lawyers Danny Cook and Kristian Young.
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