HOBART – The Kiowa County cattleman accused in the savage beating of an elderly Kiowa County landowner was bound over for trial last week.
Ethan Patrick Treadwell, 42, was charged initially with aggravated assault and battery on William Halbert “Junior” Hicks, 74, on Jan. 30, 2024. Both men live outside of Mountain Park.
The complaint was amended earlier this year to maiming. During a Kiowa County District Court hearing May 21, District Judge Ricky A. Marsh ruled, “The court finds that the crime of maiming was committed and that there is probable cause to believe that the defendant [Treadwell] committed the crime.”
Treadwell was bound over for trial and his formal arraignment is set for July 2. He is free from custody on $50,000 bond and remains under a court order to have no contact with any witnesses in the case, including his ex-wife, nor with the victim or the victim’s family.
An affidavit relates that Kiowa County Sheriff Joe Janz told Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Daniel Perkins that on Jan. 30, 2024, Treadwell and his ex-wife Kendall Elaine Cross were culling her cattle on property in the vicinity of County Road 1620 and County Road 2290, near Snyder, that’s owned by Hicks and leased by Treadwell.
“Hicks approached Treadwell’s vehicle” and confronted him about money he was owed for the lease. Treadwell was sitting in his pickup at the time and allegedly had been drinking.
The affidavit further claims: Treadwell got out of the truck and hit Hicks, knocking him to the ground. While Hicks was down, Treadwell hit and kicked him, causing Hicks to lose consciousness. Cross later said Treadwell hit Hicks “10 to 15 times and kicked his face repeatedly…” Cross called 911and an ambulance arrived and transported Hicks to Comanche County Memorial Hospital in Lawton. From there he was airlifted by mediflight to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Medical Center in Oklahoma City.
Hicks’ injuries reportedly included traumatic brain injury, loss of 15 of his 32 teeth, an orbital “blowout” of his right eye that initially required installation of a metal plate in his eye socket, a broken nose and a fractured skull. Hicks was placed on a ventilator for several hours and underwent facial surgery.
Subsequently, because the metal plate was causing him pain, Hicks underwent surgery where harvested bone was used to repair his eye socket. While in recovery from that operation he had a stroke and has been confined to a wheelchair since.
He also has limited use of his left arm and requires a brace on one of his legs now.
A state statute defines maiming as, “Every person who, with premeditated design to injure another, inflicts upon his person any injury which disfigures his personal appearance or disables any member or organ of his body or seriously diminishes his physical vigor, is guilty of maiming.” Under state law, the sentence for maiming another person is up to life in prison and/or a fine of up to $1,000.
Janz said Treadwell “told him he was involved in a fight with Hicks” over a debt and “Hicks came at him with a pair of pliers,” so Treadwell felt he “had to defend himself…” Evidence presented in court indicated Hicks was holding a mobile telephone, not a pair of pliers.
Treadwell appeared in the first season of the TV reality series Ultimate Cowboy Showdown. In that show, contestants compete in a variety of areas, such as wrangling and sorting cattle, roping and horsemanship skills. The show has been broadcast in the United States on INSP and streaming platforms YouTube, Prime and Peacock. It first aired in October 2019 and is hosted by singer/actor Trace Adkins.
On the website of the Ultimate Cowboy Showdown, Treadwell claimed in his biography that he “ran 15 to 20 thousand head of cattle for his family’s operation.”
Treadwell and Cross were married in Weatherford, Texas, in May 2022 and were divorced in January 2024 in Kiowa County, Oklahoma, on the grounds of incompatibility. She now lives in Valley View, Texas.