Two men accused of killing a North Little Rock teenager in a shooting two years ago have pleaded guilty to participating in the slaying.
Da'Unta Montell Patrick Young, 17, was killed by a masked man with a shotgun in an ambush on Feb. 12, 2015.
Defendants Michael Lamont Perkins and Jeremy Lawrence Clingmon were arrested about eight months later while in federal custody on unrelated drug and gun charges.
Perkins, 29, pleaded guilty Thursday to second-degree murder, reduced from capital murder, in exchange for a 15-year sentence, deputy prosecutor Scott Duncan said on Friday.
Perkins' plea came about a week after Clingmon, 29, also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, reduced from capital murder, in exchange for a 25-year sentence.
The men's sentences will run concurrently with the federal prison time the North Little Rock men are already serving for gun charges stemming from a high-speed chase with Arkansas State Police in North Little Rock.
That chase occurred about a month before Young was killed. The 17-year-old was shot to death as he sat behind the wheel of his silver 2004 Nissan Altima on Whyte Drive in North Little Rock.
Duncan said Clingmon and Perkins had persuaded another man to approach Young to buy marijuana from the teen. Young was shot in the chest after he rolled down his car window to talk to the man.
Derrick Thompson, 20, of North Little Rock and Young's brother, 21-year-old Roderick Paul Fondren, were also in the car with him.
Young was killed instantly, and Fondren was wounded but managed to drive the car around the corner to get away from the killer, the prosecutor said.
Their murder sentences will run concurrently with the seven-year federal sentences each received after pleading guilty last year to possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime. Marijuana trafficking charges were dropped.
That firearm was found in the wreckage of Perkins' green Ford Thunderbird, which crashed Jan. 13, 2015, while fleeing state troopers at speeds up to 109 mph, court filings show.
State police had tried to stop the car for speeding on Interstate 30, and the chase ended just before midnight near the intersection of 21st and Bragg streets in North Little Rock after Perkins crashed into a light pole, court filings show. He subsequently pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge for the wreck.
Federal prosecutors charged the men because a sizable amount of marijuana and a loaded Ruger .45-caliber pistol were discovered in the vehicle, according to federal court filings.
Federal investigators used cellphone records to link Clingmon and Perkins and obtained photographs of the men taken around the time of the crash posing with large quantities of marijuana and cash.
They also reported collecting video of the men taken in late 2014 with a gun and marijuana, court filings show. Perkins was arrested in March 2015 and Clingmon the following month.
Clingmon was already on federal supervised release at the time after serving a three-year prison sentence imposed in October 2012 for possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, court records show. He pleaded guilty to the gun charge after an April 2012 arrest with the weapon and marijuana.
In December 2011, Clingmon's older brother, 28-year-old Joseph Ferris Clingmon, was found fatally stabbed outside his girlfriend's apartment at the Silver City Courts in North Little Rock.
Police had been called to the public housing complex on West 18th Street to investigate complaints about a disturbance. Authorities said Joseph Clingmon had been stabbed during an argument with the woman. No charges were ever filed.
Metro on 05/13/2017