FAYETTEVILLE -- The fate of former Razorback Josh Melton, charged with second-degree murder in the August 2013 death of Michael Gover, is in the hands of a Washington County Circuit Court jury.
Jurors are being asked to decide if Melton's actions during a fight between the two men after a night of heavy drinking caused Gover's death and constitutes murder or manslaughter or if he's not guilty. The jury is set to begin deliberations this morning.
Legal Lingo
Lesser Included Offense
Shares some, but not all, of the elements of a greater criminal offense. The greater offense cannot be committed without also committing the lesser offense. For example, manslaughter is a lesser included offense of murder.
Source: Staff Report
"He punched Michael Gover until he couldn't punch anymore. He punched until he had nothing left," Matt Durrett, chief deputy prosecutor, told jurors in his closing argument Wednesday. "His intent was to hurt Michael Gover. There were bad intentions there."
Melton didn't testify. If convicted of second-degree murder, Melton faces six to 30 years at the Arkansas Department of Correction and fines of up to $15,000.
Drew Ledbetter, Melton's defense attorney, told jurors the state didn't prove Melton intended to cause Gover serious physical injury or that Melton caused Gover's death and police refused to abandon their initial theory of what happened.
"When they walk in, it looks like a man has been beaten to death," Ledbetter said. "The problem comes in holding on to that idea in the face of other evidence."
Gover, 30, of West Fork had an enlarged heart and a blood alcohol content of .20 when Melton punched him several times and may have hit Gover with a bag of computer equipment. Melton told police the two had an altercation at Melton's Fayetteville duplex and when he woke up the next morning he found a bloody Gover dead on the living room floor.
The case was ruled to be a homicide by state medical examiners.
Dr. Daniel Dye, who did an autopsy on Gover at the Arkansas State Crime Lab, said Tuesday that Gover's physical injuries weren't sufficient to cause his death, in and of themselves. But, the beating combined with Gover's enlarged heart and blood alcohol level proved to be a fatal combination.
"This was not a case of a person just dying. This is a case of a guy who was beaten and beaten badly," Durrett told jurors. "It was the beating that caused his heart to stop."
Ledbetter said, "Mike's heart killed Mike."
Durrett told jurors Melton initially lied to police and said he couldn't remember what happened. His story continued to change until he finally admitted beating Gover, Durrett said.
Melton told Fayetteville police he and Gover had gone to a couple of bars after a softball game, drank heavily and he blacked out.
Melton later said he punched his friend several times in the face after Gover threw up in the living room, made lewd comments and grabbed Melton's genitalia.
The defense Wednesday called their own blood spatter expert to contradict the testimony of crime scene investigator John Brooks.
Brooks told jurors it appeared Gover went down quickly and the blows caused blood to spatter and fly around the room, most of which was found lower than 40 inches off the floor. Brooks also said there was no blood on Melton from the chest down and no blood under the body.
Paulette Sutton, who spent 30 years with the Shelby County, Tenn., medical examiner's office and now teaches blood spatter analysis, said most of the blood in the room was likely expirated blood blown out the mouth or nose.
She said Gover was probably standing up when much of it was expelled from his bloody mouth and broken nose because it couldn't have come from where Gover was laying. Sutton said drops of blood in the duplex indicated Gover may have been walking around after he started bleeding.
NW News on 12/04/2014