A Pulaski County circuit judge has ordered the arrest of a Little Rock man with a history of violence against ex-girlfriends after prosecutors complained that, while out on bond, the man has tried twice to shoot one former girlfriend and choked his fiancee.
Judge Leon Johnson on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for Levar Demon Rounsville, 39, at the request of deputy prosecutor Katie Hinojosa.
Hinojosa reported that Little Rock police arrested Rounsville shortly after midnight May 5 on felony charges of aggravated assault on a family member and possession of a firearm by certain persons. He was released from jail about three weeks later after posting $20,000 bond, court records show.
Rounsville's arrest last month came after police were called to Philander Smith College shortly before midnight to investigate a complaint by Elisa Gemetta Brown that Rounsville had attacked her during an argument about Rounsville not putting gas in the car, according to a police report.
Brown, 38, described by police as being upset and having scratch marks on her neck, told officers that Rounsville choked her, punched her several times and dragged her by her hair.
Police took her to the couple's home at 809 W. 15th St., where officers saw Rounsville sitting in a silver 2000 Volvo parked in the alley. He was taken into custody, and officers reported finding a loaded .38-caliber revolver under the driver's seat.
Brown declined to talk to police more about what happened because she was afraid of Rounsville, the report stated.
"She was extremely afraid ... and did not want to give a statement about the incident," the report said. "She stated that he would have someone hurt her."
Court records show that the couple had taken out a marriage license three days earlier, but as of Thursday they had yet to file it with the county clerk.
At the time of his arrest, Rounsville had been free on $10,000 bond for just more than two months.
He was released from jail on Feb. 27 when the judge reduced his bail from $70,000. By then, Rounsville had spent about 10 months behind bars over accusations that he'd twice tried to shoot his former girlfriend, Angel Smallwood, 35, of Little Rock, including one time in front of her two children.
Prosecutors reported that they were forced to delay his trial, scheduled for May, because they were having difficulty getting Smallwood to cooperate with them.
They stated in court filings that Smallwood had refused to meet with them about the case and that they had not been able to find her. She also had refused to let authorities question her children about what had happened.
The shooting witnessed by Smallwood's children occurred just after midnight April 28, 2015, at the home Smallwood and Rounsville shared at 3024 Alameda Drive, according to police reports. Smallwood told police that she had found evidence on Rounsville's phone that he had been seeing another woman.
She stated that she confronted him and that they argued, which led to her brandishing a hammer and Rounsville pulling a gun on her.
When she mocked him for showing the pistol, Rounsville fired a shot into the kitchen wall, she told police.
Smallwood told police that he then grabbed her, trying to take the hammer when she told him she was calling for help.
During the subsequent scuffle, Rounsville kicked Smallwood's 12-year-old daughter in the face when the girl tried to pull Rounsville off her mother, the report said.
Rounsville took the hammer away from her, Smallwood said, then left the home when she again told him she was calling police.
Rounsville was arrested a day later at the Alameda residence on charges of aggravated assault on a family member, second-degree domestic battery, felon in possession of a firearm and misdemeanor domestic battery, court filings show. He spent two days in jail before posting $20,000 bond.
He was next arrested on April 26, 2016, on charges that he had again tried to shoot Smallwood a couple of months earlier.
According to police reports, Smallwood and James Jackson, 41, of Mabelvale flagged down Little Rock police officers on Feb. 13, 2016, to report that Rounsville had fired a shot into the white 2004 Dodge Durango they were riding in near 65th Street and Geyer Springs Road.
Smallwood told police that Rounsville had been following them and yelling. Rounsville pulled up next to them in traffic, she said, and she rolled down her window to ask him why he was following them.
Rounsville screamed "That's how you do me?" then fired into the car before fleeing, Smallwood told police.
Jackson refused to answer any questions from police or cooperate with detectives, court filings show.
Rounsville spent about nine weeks in jail until a June 2016 hearing at which the judge reduced his $250,000 bail to $70,000.
The judge further lowered it to $10,000 in February, and Rounsville was able to make bail about two weeks later.
Court records show that in March 2001, Rounsville, then 23, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading no contest to charges of first-degree battery, second-degree battery, five counts of aggravated assault and felon in possession of a firearm.
In that case, police say Rounsville pistol-whipped another former girlfriend, Adrienne Matlock, in July 2000, after trying to take a 4-year-old boy away from her at gunpoint. Rounsville had had a child with Matlock, records show.
Matlock, then 22, fought with Rounsville, and the gun fired during the struggle. Rounsville clubbed the woman in the face before fleeing, court filings show. Two other children, ages 7 and 13, were present when the gun went off.
Metro on 06/10/2017