A Johnson County man was sentenced to a combined total of 58 years in prison Wednesday after entering a guilty plea to three different counts in Pope County Circuit Court.
Samuel J. Love, 34, had been in jail on first-degree murder, first-degree battery and first-degree aggravated assault charges since his September 2016 arrest in an incident that led to the shooting death of a Knoxville man, Michael Dale Bowles.
Amanda Sue Guthrie, also of Johnson County, was injured in the attack which occurred at a residence on County Road 1678 in Knoxville.
Just after 10:30 p.m. on September 2, 2016 Johnson County deputies were dispatched to the residence after a report of gunshots and an altercation. Bowles and Guthrie had both suffered gunshot wounds and Bowles was transported to UAMS in Little Rock where he died two days later of his wounds.
Guthrie was transported to St. Mary’s Hospital in Russellville with non-life threatening injuries and later released.
Love was taken to St. Vincent’s in Little Rock for treatment of bodily injuries and was later released into Johnson County custody.
Initially booked into the Johnson County Detention Center the following day on two counts of felony aggravated assault with a weapon and one count of felony attempted murder. He was first held without bond, but that was modified to a $100,000 amount after a court appearance.
His charges were amended to include capital murder after Bowles died on September 4.
Love must serve 70 percent of his time before he will be eligible for parole.
