High Court Upholds Decay’s Capital Murder Conviction, Death Penalty

By Ron Wood

Friday, November 13, 2009

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FAYETTEVILLE — Christopher Decay is one step closer to dying for gunning down a Fayetteville couple in 2007.

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday upheld two capital murder convictions and two death sentences Decay received for killing Kevin Barkley Jones and Kendall Rachell Rice. Both were 24 at the time.

Decay, 23, received a separate death sentence on April 28, 2008, for each of the murders.

“I’m really relieved that this step in the process is complete, for the victim’s families,” said John Threet, Washington County prosecuting attorney. “There are still a lot of hurdles to go, but this was a big one.”

Vicki Rice, Kendall Rice’s mother, said she was relieved by the ruling.

“I think it’s great,” Rice said. “I hope it ends soon but that’s just something I’ll have to worry about.”

Vicki Rice said she plans to continue standing up for her daughter.

“I’m her only voice left and I will speak out for her as long as I can,” Rice said.

Decay walked into the couple’s apartment the evening of April 4, 2007, and shot Jones in the face with a .40-caliber pistol from less than two feet away. Then he turned and shot Rice in the face. She died still clutching a sweatshirt.

“We see brutal, but that was just a cold-blooded execution,” Threet said. “To bring that callous attitude toward life into this community, that was just frightening. It was such an alarming thing that you could have that in Fayetteville, Arkansas.”

Decay raised 14 issues on appeal, primarily involving mitigating factors, the suppression of statements and victim-impact statements. The Arkansas Supreme Court rejected them all. Decay, who eventually confessed to police, didn’t challenge the sufficiency of the evidence.

Decay, who was originally from New Orleans but was displaced by Hurricane Katrina, was suspected by police of killing the couple because he believed they had broken into his apartment and stolen marijuana and a gun. Neither was found.

Decay was so calm in initial interviews that some police officers didn’t think he was a suspect. He had had no visible reaction when he was sentenced to die.

None of Decay’s family attended his sentencing.

Jurors said they didn’t feel Decay showed remorse. None felt Decay’s lack of a criminal record, his coming from a single-parent family or his experiences during Hurricane Katrina were factors in the case.

Jesse Westeen, 21, pleaded guilty in September 2008 to being an accomplice to first-degree murder and was sentenced to two consecutive 25-year prison terms. Westeen drove Decay to and from the couple’s apartment and helped dispose of evidence./story>

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