3rd suspect in Crossett slaying is charged with capital murder

— Peter Keith Harvey expressed no emotion as Drew County Circuit Judge Sam Pope charged him with capital murder Tuesday.

Harvey, 41, of New Orleans glanced quickly at Donna Woodberry’s family as he walked out of the Monticello courtroom in leg chains and an orange jumpsuit issued by the Ashley County jail.

He and two others are charged in the July 1 death of Woodberry, 58, who had been abducted from her Crossett home. Police said her body was dumped less than 2 miles away, and her car was used in a robbery of First National Bank of Crossett’s North Crossett branch.

Adrianne Green, 30, ofCrossett and Kendell Nickelson, 26, of Brookhaven, Miss., also have been charged in the case.

“I feel progress,” Woodberry’s daughter Felishia Johnson said after tearing up as the judge read the charges to Harvey. “As long as I feel that things are moving, it’s going to be OK.”

Johnson and her sister LaShanda Waters wore white T-shirts with photos of their mother and one of her wellknown catchphrases: “My name is Donna, not dummy.” Woodberry used the statement to tease people who underestimated her intelligence or explained obvious things, the women said.

“Somebody’s going to be at every hearing,” Waters said after waiting on a wooden bench for several hours towitness the brief hearing.

Harvey’s charges include capital murder, kidnapping, two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of theft.

He was arrested July 8 outside his girlfriend’s home in Opelousas, La., on warrants in connection with a Dec. 21 armed robbery at a truck stop in Louisiana’s Acadia Parish.

Harvey waived extradition to Arkansas.

Thomas Deen, the 10th Judicial District prosecuting attorney, said Tuesday that he has not determined whether he will seek the death penalty for any of the three defendants.

Capital murder carries a possible sentence of life in prison or death by lethal injection.

Also Tuesday, Pope au-thorized a request by Deen to collect DNA samples from Harvey.

Deen said he planned to file similar requests for the other two defendants to see if their genetic material matches evidence collected by investigators. He would not say what the evidence was or where it was found.

Pope set Oct. 13 to hear Harvey’s plea.

He assigned public defender Bill James to represent Harvey after determining that the suspect did not have enough income, savings or sellable property to cover legal costs.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 08/18/2010

Upcoming Events