CLARKSVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A Johnson County man has pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge in connection with a fatal shooting he claimed was in self-defense, according to court documents.
Court records say on April 2, Mark Gonzalez, 23, entered a guilty plea to a manslaughter charge for shooting and killing Joseph Middleton, 49, of Clarksville, in August 2024.
Mark Gonzalez, 23 (Courtesy: Johnson County Detention Center)
He was sentenced to 15 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections with five years suspended after waiving his jury trial. He received credit for the 228 days served in prison prior to his guilty plea.
Arkansas State Police said on August 18, 2024, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance from the department in the investigation into Middleton’s death.
A probable cause affidavit said JCSO deputies responded to a home on Private Road 3533 in Clarksville after a man had been shot.
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Once on the scene, deputies found Middleton’s body and Gonzalez said he shot Middleton in self-defense after he came at Gonzalez with an axe, according to the affidavit.
A witness who was in the room at the time of the shooting told JCSO that they did not see the axe.
911 was not immediately called, witnesses said, but someone did so more than an hour after Middleton had been shot.
Gonzalez was interviewed and said he had a loaded gun in his waistband when Middleton went to his home because of “bad vibes”. He told officials there was only one other person in the room at the time of the shooting, but it was later revealed there were two witnesses in the room.
Gonzalez was arrested on a first-degree murder charge but he negotiated a guilty plea for a manslaughter charge, according to court records.
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