HOT SPRINGS -- A Hot Springs man was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday after being convicted of first-degree murder in the 2012 death of a Malvern man after a robbery.
The seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated in Garland County Circuit Court for about 30 minutes before finding David Lee Felty, 45, guilty in the Aug. 22, 2012, death of James Richard Cranford, 57.
Cranford was beaten with a baseball bat at the El Rancho Motel and later died from a heart attack, which deputy prosecutor Joe Graham argued was caused by the attack.
Life in prison was the only possible sentence in the case because Felty had two previous felony convictions for rape in 1991. Felty, a Level 3 registered sex offender, was also convicted Jan. 17, 2012, for failing to register as a sex offender and was sentenced to four years in prison. He was on parole from that sentence at the time of Cranford's death.
"We believe the jury made the right decision," Graham said. "Felty has been a danger to the public for a long time, and we feel the community is safer now."
Felty's wife, Felicia Lattice Murray, 27, who was his girlfriend at the time of the attack, and a second man, Elbert Osborne Jr., age unknown, are also charged with first-degree murder in the case and are awaiting trial.
Murray is in custody after her bond was revoked, while Osborne is free on bond.
Dr. Stephen A. Erickson, the state's deputy chief medical examiner, testified Tuesday that Cranford had a variety of injuries to his head, face, torso and arms that were the result of blunt force trauma, including multiple scrapes, bruises and cuts.
Erickson said the victim suffered from some pre-existing heart conditions, including blockage in his right coronary artery, but noted that was not uncommon for someone his age with his lifestyle.
Erickson said it would have been the "excitement" and "stress" of the assault that contributed "part and parcel" to his death, so it was therefore ruled a homicide. He noted that "a homicide by heart attack," while fairly rare, is a well-known cause of death recognized by medical examiners.
He also noted that Cranford had ingested a high quantity of methamphetamine but was in the typical range of drug users who were seeking stimulation and "euphoria."
He said, "We see a lot of that at the Crime Lab, unfortunately."
He added that the meth would have caused an increase in his blood pressure but would not have caused his death alone. He said it was a combination of the drugs, his heart condition and the trauma of the attack "that all added up."
Under cross-examination by Felty's attorney, Brandon Crawford, Erickson agreed the meth would have affected the victim's judgment and awareness and would have exacerbated his heart disease.
"Anyone over the age of 40 has no business taking meth," he said.
The only defense witness presented was John Mooney, a private detective working on Felty's behalf, who had questioned all the witnesses presented by the state and noted numerous inconsistencies between statements they gave to Hot Springs police, their testimony Monday and what they told him.
Under cross-examination, Mooney acknowledged that none of the witnesses "put the bat in anyone else's hands" other than Felty's.
In his closing remarks, Graham said the state had to prove that Felty, acting alone or with others, committed a robbery and during the course of it caused Cranford's death.
He noted testimony that Murray had asked about the victim having money and the fact that the victim's money, between $1,200 and $1,500, was gone after the attack.
Cranford's wallet, phone and keys were later found in the room shared by Felty and Murray, along with the bat.
"[Cranford] was severely beaten. Why pick him? Because he had lots of money and was in a motel room with two prostitutes using drugs," Graham said, noting that if Cranford had survived the robbery, he probably wouldn't have reported it.
"You don't have to like the victim or what he was doing, but he didn't deserve what he got," Graham said, noting that Cranford was 5 feet 4 inches tall and 165 pounds, while Felty was considerably larger and "didn't need that bat."
"This was a homicide, not natural causes. It was murder by heart attack," he said. He described Felty as "the muscle" and "the one doing the beating," not "a victim of circumstance," as the defense argued.
In his closing, Crawford questioned why Felty did not have any of the victim's property in his possession when he was arrested minutes later and also noted that none of Felty's fingerprints or DNA were found on any of the victim's property.
If Felty was "the muscle" or "the enforcer" in the plan, then "where are the fruits of his labor? His compensation?" he asked. Crawford acknowledged it was "a poor decision" for Felty to flee from the police but argued that "maybe that's the reason the police so quickly pegged [Felty] as the culprit."
As for the witnesses, all prostitutes, he said, "Bless their hearts. They finally got the opportunity to be on the right side of the law, and I think they got a little overzealous" in telling the police what they wanted to hear.
He warned the jury that the autopsy photos "are designed to invoke emotions, but you can't let your emotions supplant the facts of the case."
Crawford said the evidence did not support that Felty was responsible for all the injuries.
"This is not about unsavory characters or repugnant lifestyles; this is a case about causation," he said, noting that if the jurors couldn't determine that Felty caused the victim's death, then they couldn't convict him of murder.
"When you shoot up meth in a roomful of prostitutes, you have a reduced life expectancy," Crawford said.
State Desk on 04/15/2015