Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims on Thursday cleared prosecutors to use DNA evidence that authorities say places a 27-year-old Pine Bluff man at the scene of the 2011 ambush slaying of a Little Rock drug dealer.
Charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery, Mark "Muff" Goolsby is the last of four men accused of participating in the killing of Greg Smith at the Squire Court Apartments on Geyer Springs Road in December 2011.
Police say the 25-year-old Smith was the victim of a holdup, with the robbers seeking two 1-pound bricks of marijuana. A fifth man has been identified in testimony as also participating in the holdup but has never been charged.
Goolsby's co-defendants originally shared his charges, but only one of the other men, Christopher Lamar "Toppie" Rogers, 24, of Pine Bluff, has gone to trial. An admitted drug dealer, Rogers was convicted in February 2013 of first-degree murder and robbery and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
His cousin, 32-year-old Stevie Darnell Rogers of Benton, who prosecutors say set up Smith to be robbed of marijuana, and Rashun Lamar Goins of Texas each pleaded guilty to robbery in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence that will be cut in half in exchange for their testimony against their co-defendants.
Goolsby is scheduled for trial Tuesday.
On Thursday, defense attorneys Toney Brasuell and Jason Files challenged the legality of how police acquired Goolsby's DNA, but the judge, after hearing testimony from Detective Tommy Hudson, found no wrongdoing by investigators, clearing the way for prosecutors to use the genetic material at trial.
Questioned by deputy prosecutor Kelly Ward, Hudson, a 29-year police veteran, said police found two trails of blood at the scene of the shooting -- the apartment parking lot. The heavier trail led back to an apartment where Smith had tried to take refuge after he was shot, the detective said.
The second trail was a series of blood drops leading the opposite direction from Smith's trail, Hudson told the judge.
Police collected a sample of the drops and from blood found inside a gray shot-up and bloody Dodge Charger that Pine Bluff police seized in that town less than two hours after the killing, Hudson said. The robbers were seen fleeing in a gray Charger, the detective told the judge.
From Goins, police learned that a man he knew only as Muff had been shot in the left hand during the robbery, Hudson testified. Goins was later able to identify Muff as Goolsby by picking his picture out of a photographic lineup, Hudson said.
But police didn't have enough evidence to arrest Goolsby until September 2012 when the Arkansas Crime Laboratory matched the DNA from the two blood samples to DNA from Goolsby contained in a federal database of known felons, according to Hudson.
Goolsby, who had been on parole for drug possession, first-degree battery and theft convictions, was arrested in November 2012, and has been in custody since.
To confirm the database match, police got a court order in January 2013 to swab Goolsby's mouth for more DNA, which was again matched to the blood samples, Hudson told the judge. Goolsby's parole officer also told police that the defendant had a hand injury at the time of the slaying, the detective said.
At trial, Christopher Rogers denied there was any plan to rob Smith. He testified that he had gone with the others to buy the marijuana from Smith with plans to resell it, but that he had accidentally startled Smith, prompting the man to open fire. Other people with Rogers fired back, striking Smith, Rogers testified, but he said he did not see who they were because he was busy getting out of the line of fire.
Rogers told jurors that his cousin Stevie Rogers had arranged the marijuana purchase. The defense contended Smith opened fire on the night he was killed out of paranoia about being robbed because he had recently been robbed of $98,000 worth of marijuana.
Goins testified at Christopher Rogers' trial that his role was to spy on Smith before the robbery to help the ambush. He said Rogers and Goolsby had picked up guns at the Paper Moon nightclub before the ambush. He said he didn't see who shot Smith because he ran when the gunfire started.
Metro on 08/15/2014