A 20-year-old murder suspect accused of marijuana and gun possession while out on bond awaiting trial was released from jail Monday after his cousin claimed the contraband belonged to him.
Danny Ray Dednam of North Little Rock was freed after four months in jail.
He's scheduled to stand trial in August on charges of first-degree murder and four counts of committing a terroristic act in the September 2015 shooting that killed 22-year-old Keon Dewayne Woodson at an Exxon convenience store.
Woodson was a back-seat passenger in a white Chevrolet Tahoe carrying five men that was shot up at the store on Camp Robinson Road.
Dednam is asserting self-defense, and his attorney, Bill James, has said Dednam was defending himself from a robbery attempt by Woodson when the older man was killed.
James argued on Monday that Dednam's $125,000 bond should be reinstated since prosecutors declined to charge him for his Jan. 3 arrest by North Little Rock police.
Circuit Judge Herb Wright agreed to reinstate bail once Dednam presented proof that his bondsman would stay on the bond.
In January, officers Jeff Elenbaas and Ryan Davidson arrested Dednam and his cousin, Tevin Deshun Doles, 25, during a traffic stop at Gum and 36th streets after seeing Dednam's 2010 gold Honda Accord driving erratically.
Dednam was behind the wheel, and the officer reported he could smell "an extremely strong odor" of marijuana inside the vehicle.
Doles' "extremely nervous" demeanor prompted Davidson to draw his gun and force Doles to empty his pockets. Doles said he was carrying "weed," and turned over several packages of the drug, an arrest report said.
A search of the car turned up a loaded 9mm handgun under Doles' seat, and he was arrested. At the jail, Doles surrendered a loaded revolver he had tucked into his pants, according to an arrest report.
Doles told officers the revolver and the marijuana were his, but denied that the 9mm pistol belonged to him, the report states.
Doles is charged with simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of firearms by certain persons, felon. The charges carry a potential life sentence, and he is scheduled for arraignment later this month.
The officers were going to write Dednam a traffic ticket and let him go, but when Davidson opened the glove box to get the vehicle registration, he found a pint bottle of promethazine, a prescription sedative and antihistamine, and arrested Dednam, the report said.
Metro on 05/09/2017