Wrong man is defense at trial in killing of teen in North Little Rock

Attorney: Police cut corners

North Little Rock police detectives were so eager to arrest a man named "Smiley" in the July 2014 slaying of a 19-year-old man that they cut corners in their investigation and ended up with the wrong man -- twice -- defense attorney Bill James told a Pulaski County jury on Tuesday.

In opening remarks at Keith Charles Jones' trial on first-degree murder and battery charges, James said that while Jones does have a "smiley" tatoo, police ignored an eyewitness and Jones' alibi in order to put his client behind bars in the shooting that killed Charles Lamont Boyd Jr. and wounded Saudeion Hussey, then 18.

Enamored with the theory that the killer was somehow related to Hussey's next-door neighbors, police briefly considered a relative of Jones could be the gunman -- even showing his photograph to witnesses -- before investigators decided Jones was their man, arresting the Scott man three weeks after the slaying, the defense attorney said.

In his 15-minute opening, James told the 10 women and two men of the jury that the defense will present the overlooked eyewitness and a Little Rock man who will testify that Jones, 54, was with him at the time of the shooting.

"We've got a trial with two stories here," James said. "That [the prosecution's version] is a good story, and if they can prove that story, it'll be bad for my client. Compare the story I told you to the story the government told you ... and at the end of this trial, you'll find my client not guilty."

Deputy prosecutor Scott Duncan offered a more succinct version of events in his six minutes of opening statements, telling jurors that Hussey and his ex-girlfriend Asada Jackson both clearly saw the man who shot Boyd, known as "Chopper," on Hussey's front porch. Hussey was wounded in the shoulder by a gunshot.

Jackson had a clear view of the shooting because the gunman had to walk right by her to approach Boyd to shoot him, the prosecutor said.

Jackson then saw the killer walk back to the street and get into a black sport utility vehicle that had just driven up, Duncan told jurors.

Jackson was able to identify the driver as Lori Loraie Parker, 57, a discovery that led detectives to investigate her associates, which then brought Jones, Parker's brother, to their attention, the prosecutor said.

Both Hussey and Jackson subsequently were able to identify Jones from a photo lineup as the killer, Duncan told jurors.

The police examination of Jones' cellphone showed that in the four minutes before the shooting, seven calls were made from his phone, all of which were routed through the nearest AT&T cell tower, just a couple of blocks from Hussey's 13th Street home, the prosecutor said.

Hussey is to testify today. Proceedings before Judge Leon Johnson are to resume at 9:30 a.m.

Jackson told jurors that shortly before Boyd was killed, he had been in a shouting match with some young women who lived next door to Hussey. Boyd thought someone there had stolen his gun, she said.

"He was saying he wanted his pistol back, and if he didn't get it back, there was going to be trouble," the 20-year-old North Little Rock woman testified, describing "screaming and yelling" by Boyd and the women.

About 20 minutes later, the women came "rushing out of the house like something was going to happen," Jackson said. The women were carrying bags, "like they were moving out," she told jurors.

Jackson, who testified for almost 90 minutes, said she was in the front yard on the phone with a friend when she saw an older man, a stranger, walking down the sidewalk toward her. The man then walked up to the house and asked Boyd a question before suddenly shooting him, she said, describing how Boyd's eyes grew big when the bullet hit him.

"He asked Chopper, 'Where was Terrell?' and Chopper said he didn't know and he [the stranger] reached in his pocket and pulled out a gun and shot Chopper in the chest," Jackson said.

Boyd and Hussey ran from the home -- police found him collapsed behind a home a block away -- but Jackson said she froze.

"I was in shock. I was just standing there. I didn't know what to do," she said.

The killer ignored her and got into the SUV that had just driven up. Jackson said she recognized the driver from the neighboring home. She said she heard the woman speak to the killer.

"She pulled up and said, 'Did you get him?' and he said, 'Yes,'" Jackson said.

Parker was arrested about four months after the slaying and faces a charge of hindering arrest.

Challenged by the defense about how she came to pick Jones out of a police lineup, Jackson told jurors she's "positive" the defendant is the man she saw shoot Boyd.

"That's the person that I seen shoot Chopper," she told jurors.

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Metro on 12/06/2017

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