Trial reset in suit of former suspect
A jury trial set for May in a lawsuit filed by the boyfriend of a slain Arkansas Tech University student has now been rescheduled to September.
The hearing in U.S. District Judge James Moody’s court will now be held during the week of Sept. 20, a court order said Tuesday.
Kevin Jones filed the lawsuit against Russellville police detective Mark Frost and former Russellville Police Chief James Bacon. The city of Russellville has since been added as a defendant. The suit accuses Bacon and Frost of conspiring to withhold and falsify evidence to prosecute Jones.
Jones was acquitted in 2007 in the death of Nona Dirksmeyer, who was killed in her Russellville apartment in 2005.
In August 2008, one of Dirksmeyer’s neighbors, Gary Dunn, was arrested in the case. Dunn was tried twice, with each trial ending in a hung jury. A judge later dismissed the case against Dunn, who is also a defendant in Jones’ lawsuit.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTEHunt-camp death ruled an accident
SPARKMAN - Authorities in Ouachita County have ruled a weekend fatal shooting at a turkey camp as accidental.
Deputies were called Sunday after Jeremy Owens, 36, of Beebe was shot. Deputies spoke with Harley R. Brittain, 38, also of Beebe, who was taking Owens to a hospital.
The Daily Citizen reported that Brittain told deputies he and Owens arrived at the camp and that he accidentally shot Owens in the leg with a .40 caliber handgun. Brittain explained that the weapon lodged between two seats in their vehicle and it discharged as he tried to retrieve it.
Brittain acknowledged to deputies that he’d been drinking, but Prosecuting Attorney Ian Vickery said Arkansas law doesn’t prohibit being aroundfirearms while intoxicated.
Vickery said he’s convinced the death was accidental.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Man in jail after wife shot to death
BATESVILLE - An Independence County man is jailed in the shooting death of his wife, Sheriff Steve Jeffery said Tuesday.
Deputies arrested Randall Davis, who lives just south of Batesville on Kyler Road, on Monday afternoon after they responded to a neighbor’s call. Jeffery said Davis told the neighbor he had shot his wife, Tricia Davis, in his home and asked that the neighbor notify police.
Jeffery said Independence County Coroner Wesley Gay pronounced the woman dead at the scene. Her body was sent to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock for an autopsy.
Randall Davis was held in the Independence County jail in Batesville on Wednesday, awaiting formal charges.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTEThieves get semi, 26 big-truck tires
JONESBORO - Police in Jonesboro said a tractor rig is missing from a business and that the thieves also stole 26 big-rig tires.
Officers were summoned Monday morning to Arkansas Trailers on C.W. Post road about the theft, which occurred over the weekend.
The manager said the tires were worth $11,700 and the 2006 Freightliner tractor rig is worth $25,000.
Jonesboro television station KAIT reports the thieves needed an air compressor and impact wrench to remove the tires.
The truck was last tracked in Marion on Sunday.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 04/25/2013