Readers of our sister newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, have seen some outstanding reporting in the case of Darrell Dennis, who stands accused in the Little Rock murder of 18-year-old Forrest Abrams.
Typically, crime in the capital city would not draw our attention, other than our general societal concerns about violent deaths anywhere in our beloved state.
Sadly, murders in Little Rock are not rare. Abrams’ was a week’s time. And Abrams’ address at the time of the crime was Fayetteville, right here in our own neck of the woods.
As tragic as Abrams’ killing is the state-wide relevance of this story comes from what we hope will be far-reaching effects within our criminal justice system.
Here, as succinctly as one can likely put it, are the key facts as reported in the statewide newspaper:
“After serving less than a third of a 60-year sentence for aggravated robbery, Dennis, now 47, was paroled in November of 2008.
“Between then and his May 22 arrest in Abrams’ death, he was arrested at least 14 times and racked up at least 10 felony charges after two drug raids at his Little Rock residence.
“He failed drug tests, missed meetings with his parole officers and was cited as an absconder eight times since his release from prison, yet Dennis never appeared before the Parole Board for a revocation hearing.”
Those facts support this basic question, which should be keeping state officials awake at night: Would this 18-year-old kid be alive today had the state of Arkansas done its job?
Dennis stands accused of kidnapping and capital murder in the Abrams case. Thirty-two hours before the killing, Dennis was in the Pulaski County jail on a parole hold, but was released. A spokesman for the Department of Community Corrections has noted that parole officers are not required to seek a revocation hearing when a parolee absconds from parole conditions, but Dennis’ actions clearly show he cared nothing about the state-imposed boundaries for his crime-laden life.
Gov. Mike Beebe has reacted with discomfort about Dennis’ background and the state’s apparent lack of action when faced with a parolee so demonstrably unwilling to live on the right side of the law. After meeting with the head of the state’s probation and parole agency Monday, Beebe said state agencies will conduct a “thorough” review of how the state handled Dennis’ case.
“We’re still gathering facts, we’ve got a lot of good information that’s already come in… we’re looking to see what systemic changes and what individual personnel or case specific issues contributed to this,” Beebe said. “I can tell you, without going into detail yet because the investigation is not complete, that it appears that it may be some of both.”
He said what happened in Dennis’ case was inexcusable. By Wednesday, he asked Arkansas State Police to conduct a parallel administrative review of state agencies’ actions or inaction. The State Police spokesman said the entire state parole operation will be evaluated.
The facts as we know them now suggest Arkansas has been victimized by its own state parole system.
The facts hint at an agency complacent in its role to protect Arkansans from criminals our parole board has seen fit to release into our communities.
The facts show an 18-year-old shot dead on the streets reportedly by someone who provided ample reason he should have been back behind bars.
State government must figure out what went wrong and do whatever it takes to get it right. It’s unthinkable that these state agencies might fail Arkansans again.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 06/22/2013