Almost 16 months after three men were found shot -- one fatally -- within a block of each other in North Little Rock, the two survivors face off in Pulaski County Circuit Court today.
Roy Lee Boles Jr., 22, is accused of killing 19-year-old Jevon Tyrell Shearer and wounding 26-year-old Ronald Bernard Cash Jr. in February 2016, after setting them up for an armed robbery under the pretense of buying marijuana from Shearer.
Shearer was dead and Cash had been shot in the hip when police, called to investigate reports of a shooting, found the men in the road next to a still-running black Chevrolet Trailblazer at the intersection of Parker and West 20th streets. Cash was able to tell police that they'd been shot by a man named Roy.
Almost simultaneously, officers located Boles about a block away near 18th and Division streets, also wounded by gunfire. Boles told police he'd been shot while taking a walk and didn't know why he'd been shot or who was behind it.
Arrested about six weeks later, Boles is charged with capital murder, aggravated robbery, first-degree battery and aggravated assault, with prosecutors seeking a life sentence. Proceedings before Judge Chris Piazza resume at 10:30 a.m. today, with Cash expected to testify during the day's proceedings.
The nine women and three men on the jury have already heard testimony that Cash was able to tell police that the assailant was a man he knew as Roy.
Deputy prosecutor Robbie Jones said Boles had contacted Shearer to buy some marijuana, but when Shearer and Cash showed up to complete the sale, Boles said he'd changed his mind. But he persuaded the two men to give him a ride home.
It was during that ride that Boles asked if the men wanted to see a car he'd just bought and was fixing up, the prosecutor said.
When Cash stopped so they could see the car, Boles pulled out his gun, a move that prompted Shearer to draw his own weapon, Jones said. Cash fled the sport utility vehicle just as the shooting started, but was still wounded, the prosecutor said.
"From the moment he got in that Trailblazer, [Boles'] intent was to rob," Jones said.
Defense attorney Cheryl Barnard told jurors the case against Boles won't hold up to their scrutiny, telling jurors the men had known each other for some time. She urged jurors to listen as closely to what witnesses say as to what they don't say.
"Pay attention to who's got what to gain, and in the end, you'll see ... that Ronald Cash was not shot by Roy Boles, that Jevon Shearer was not shot by Roy Boles."
Barnard did not say whether Boles would testify. He was on parole when Shearer was killed. Boles was sentenced to prison in March 2014 for six years after pleading guilty to seven counts of breaking or entering for a one-night series of car burglaries in April 2013 within a two-block span of 400 N. Pierce St. in Little Rock.
He was one of three men suspected of the car burglaries. A second suspect, 19-year-old Kenzell Hobbs, was shot and killed by police while resisting arrest. Prosecutors dropped all charges against the third man, 25-year-old Gary Garnett Coleman of North Little Rock.
More recently, Boles was one of 41 felons whose indictment on federal gun charges was announced in February as part of what authorities described as special anti-violence initiative. Boles was cleared of wrongdoing by a federal jury earlier this month.
The charges stemmed from Boles' March 19, 2016, arrest during a traffic stop in the 1900 block of Marion Street in North Little Rock. A stolen pistol was found in the vehicle where Boles had been sitting.
According to an arrest report, another passenger in the car, Cedrick Smith, gave a statement saying that the gun was his and he knew that it was stolen.
Metro on 06/20/2017