A Delaware man charged in the 1967 slaying of a Newport man will fight extradition to Arkansas, forcing Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce to seek a governor's warrant to return him to the state.
James Leon Clay, 67, of Georgetown, Del., was arrested in his home on March 10 in the fatal shooting of James Ricks, 27, of North Little Rock in June 1967. Boyce filed a first-degree murder charge against Clay in Jackson County Circuit Court on the day of the arrest.
Authorities will hold an extradition hearing in Sussex County Superior Court on April 10 after Boyce requests Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson to request Delaware Gov. Jack Markell to issue a governor's warrant to release Clay to Jackson County law officials.
Boyce said he expects that once the warrant is issued, Clay will be returned to Arkansas. Clay is scheduled for an arraignment hearing in Jackson County Circuit Court on April 17.
"We will move this case forward with all deliberate speed," Boyce said.
Delaware authorities arrested Clay on the basis of a police recording in which, according to the arest affidavit, Clay is described as telling an unnamed former prison cellmate on Dec. 18, 2014, that he "killed James Ricks in Arkansas in 1967."
The cellmate had contacted FBI agents in Baltimore on April 17, 2012, after Clay first told him of the slaying, the affidavit said. The two were incarcerated in the Sussex County Correctional Institution in Georgetown, Del., at the time.
Clay was serving a three-year sentence for an attempted bank robbery.
He was arrested in 2011 after attempting to rob a bank near Laurel, Del., said Jason Miller, a spokesman for the Delaware Department of Correction in Dover, Del. Clay wore a skeleton face mask and entered the bank, but ran off when a teller said she had no money, Miller said.
Clay was held in the Sussex County Correctional Institution from October 2011 to August 2014, and had been on supervised probation since his release, Miller said.
According to the arrest affidavit filed in Jackson County Circuit Court on March 9 and signed by Circuit Judge Harold S. Erwin, Ricks' brother, Julius Ricks of North Little Rock, reported to police that his brother was missing on June 8, 1967. He also reported that James Ricks' 1964 Oldsmobile was also missing,
On June 20, 1967, Clay -- then 20 -- and his brother, Leon Junior Clay -- then 25 -- of Ellicott City, Md., were arrested after police stopped them in Ellicott City. Police found weapons inside the car tied to a theft at a Little Rock pawn shop on South Louisiana Street.
The Clays were in Ricks' Oldsmobile and police found both mens' fingerprints on the inside and outside of the vehicle, Jackson County Sheriff David Lucas said in the arrest affidavit.
The two were transported to Little Rock and later convicted of transporting in interstate commerce, which included driving the stolen car from North Little Rock to Endicott City. James Clay was also convicted of transporting a stolen .32-caliber pistol from North Little Rock.
Leon Junior Clay has since died, Boyce said.
On Aug. 27, 1967, a father and son found the remains of a man in a rural area of Jackson County near Newport. The county coroner determined that the man had been shot at the base of the skull. The remains were later identified by Julius Ricks as his brother.
Julius Ricks did not return telephone messages left Monday at his home.
According to Lucas' affidavit, Clay told his cellmate that he and his brother robbed the Little Rock pawn shop and fled. Their car broke down and the two walked along railroad tracks until they found James Ricks sleeping in his car.
Lucas said in the affidavit that Clay shot Ricks through the car window, striking him in the face. The shot was not fatal, and Clay handcuffed Ricks and placed him in the car's trunk, the affidavit said.
Clay and his brother then drove away in Ricks' car, ending up in Newport later that night, the affidavit said. Clay told his cellmate that he stopped near Newport and handcuffed Ricks to a tree.
"Clay then told [the cellmate] that they would get just as much time [in jail] for shooting him as they would if the shot [had] killed him," Lucas wrote in the affidavit.
He said Clay took the handcuffs off Ricks and said they would send someone to pick him up. He then walked behind Ricks and shot him in the head, Lucas said Clay admitted to the cellmate.
On Dec. 18, 2014, the cellmate wore a hidden recording device and met Clay at a probation office where he recorded Clay confessing to the crime, the affidavit said.
Boyce said he will request Erwin to either waive a bond or set one high enough to ensure Clay will remain held in the Jackson County jail in Newport while he awaits a trial.
The prosecutor said he will also study case law to determine if Clay's previous convictions can be considered when sentencing Clay if he is convicted of killing Ricks.
"This is a 47-year-old case," Boyce said. "There are a lot of legal questions. This was a cold case, but it appears this cold case just heated up."
State Desk on 03/17/2015