A Pulaski County circuit judge Thursday cut the $500,000 bail of a West Memphis man by more than half after the defendant's attorney, citing a "strong" case for self-defense, predicted that prosecutors had little chance of a first-degree murder conviction.
The $200,000 bail set by Judge Chris Piazza was still almost three times the $75,000 that defense attorney Bobby Digby had requested for 31-year-old Jerrold Dewayne Howard.
The judge said he could not reduce bail any further because of the circumstances of Howard's arrest.
Howard left the state after Blair Symone Sims was killed, then had to be chased down by Illinois State Police troopers who encountered him near Springfield, Ill., more than three weeks later.
He was carrying a .40-caliber pistol when he was arrested, and Little Rock police are arranging for the weapon to be brought to Arkansas for testing at the state Crime Laboratory. Police found a .40-caliber shell casing near Sims' body.
Howard did not testify or call any witnesses at Thursday's bond hearing. He's been in the Pulaski County jail since Jan. 28 and is scheduled to stand trial in August.
Detective Brad Silas testified that Sims, 25, was shot in the chest by Howard three days after Christmas in the Barrington Hills Apartments home that Sims shared with her girlfriend, 24-year-old Alexia Stephens.
Sims and Stephens had been quarreling for some time over the state of their relationship, and when their argument became physical, Howard shot Sims, Silas said, citing Stephens' account of events.
But Silas and Digby, the defense attorney, clashed when the detective told the judge that Sims was unarmed when she was shot.
Stephens told other officers in the immediate aftermath of the shooting that Sims and Howard both pulled out weapons, Digby said. She also expressed concern that Howard had been shot, the attorney said.
Another witness reported hearing Sims talking about having a gun and "taking care" of Howard, Digby said.
Silas testified that Stephens had told him during a later interview that Sims did not have any weapons and that she did not know where the story about Sims having a gun came from.
A gun was found in the Reservoir Road apartment, but there was no indication that it had been used, and it's a different caliber from the weapon used to kill Sims, Silas said.
Howard was Stephens' "best friend," and she had him with her that day because she was afraid of Sims, Digby told the judge. Sims was a felon who had convictions for theft and forgery from 2014 in Jefferson County, according to the attorney.
Court records further show that in April 2013, Sims' grandmother, uncle and two aunts had her involuntarily committed to the State Hospital for more than a month. She was 21.
Sims was described as being "very belligerent," angry and sometimes suicidal, the records show. The commitment pleading describes an occasion when Sims jumped out of a car and began running down the street "without proper clothes on."
State doctors diagnosed her with depression and benzodiazepine abuse, and she was enrolled in a drug treatment program that was to be followed up with outpatient mental-health treatment.
Deputy prosecutor Robbie Jones asked the judge to keep Howard's bail at $500,000, citing concern that the West Memphis man would be a flight risk if released from jail before the trial.
He also cited Howard's felony convictions: drug possession in 2013 in Poinsett County; and aggravated assault in 2008 and first-degree battery in 2005, both in Crittenden County. Court records also show that Howard, with a Jonesboro address, is wanted for missing a January court date in Poinsett County, where he is charged with felon in possession of a firearm.
The prosecutor also downplayed the significance of Stephens' remarks about Sims having a gun. Jones asked the judge to consider how those statements were made immediately after the shooting, but when she submitted to an interview with Silas days after the slaying, Stephens had recanted the remarks and appeared puzzled about where they had come from.
Metro on 04/14/2017