May 26, 2011

With his appointment in 1982 by President Reagan, Benton County native Asa Hutchinson became the youngest district attorney in the nation. As the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, he directed the much publicized investigation and prosecution of right-wing extremist group the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord. The future Arkansas governor is shown here putting on a bulletproof vest as he prepares to mediate the removal of suspects at the group’s northwest Arkansas compound in 1985.