DAVENPORT -- The ex-chiropractor who murdered his wife 25 years ago and cut up her body with a chainsaw has been arrested for the third time since his release, records show.

James Barry Klindt, 59, of Davenport pleaded guilty Tuesday to possession of drug paraphernalia, specifically a crack pipe, according to documents filed in Scott County District Court. He was fined $65.

Klindt was driving a Plymouth minivan at 10:30 p.m. Sunday when he was stopped for a plate lamp violation by two Scott County sheriff's deputies. One of the passengers fled on foot. Klindt was detained "for safety reasons."

During a pat-down of Klindt, one of the deputies found a thin round object in Klindt's back right pants pocket, the report states. The object was a crack pipe with burnt residue inside of the pipe.

In October 2004, Klindt was charged with two counts of drug possession, a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia after he was stopped at 3 a.m. in Davenport for a traffic violation. He was sentenced to one year of probation for the drug possession

A search of the white van he was driving in that incident allegedly turned up two marijuana pipes which contained residue of the drug, less than a gram of marijuana in one of the pipes and three grams of cocaine found hidden under a cushion in a couch that was being hauled in the back of vehicle, according to police.

A female passenger also was charged.

In August 2004, Klindt pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of interfering with officers and paid a $50 fine after police were called to the family home Aug. 4 regarding a domestic dispute between him and his girlfriend. He disobeyed orders by police and tried to go back inside the house. He also tried to twist away from officers and had to be handcuffed before he would cooperate.

At the time, police said the dispute arose because Klindt was angered as the woman tried to remove her furniture from the house. Klindt told police she owed him money. The woman returned a notebook containing financial information belonging to Klindt in exchange for some of her furniture.

Klindt was released from the North Central Correctional Facility in Rockwell City, Iowa, on March 13, 2004, after serving 20 years of a 50-year sentence for the murder and dismemberment of Joyce Klindt, his wife. She disappeared on March 18, 1983, as the two were embroiled in a bitter divorce.

A portion of Joyce Klindt's body washed up on the shore of the Mississippi River a month after her disappearance and James Klindt was arrested and charged with her killing March 28, 1984. During his trial, prosecutors played a tape of a phone conversation between the two in which they talked about a threat made by James Klindt to cut up his wife into little pieces.

James Klindt was convicted of second-degree murder at the second of two trials that were moved out of the Quad-Cities because of the amount of publicity given to the sensational nature of the crime. His first trial in Keokuk, Iowa, ended with a hung jury. He confessed to the crime in 1992.

The case also was considered to be significant because it laid the groundwork for the use of DNA evidence in criminal trials in Iowa. Authorities used a precursor to DNA to determine that the body part found in the river belonged to Joyce Klindt.

Contact Ann McGlynn at (563) 383-2336 or amcglynn@qctimes.com.