Little Rock driver sentenced to 27 years in newlywed's death

Deonte Tywon Jones
Deonte Tywon Jones

A 20-year-old Little Rock man who ran over and killed a 22-year-old newlywed while fleeing police accepted a 27-year prison sentence for first-degree murder and related charges on Monday, a day before he was scheduled to stand trial.

Heather Michelle Cater had been married five months in September 2014 when she was killed by a speeding black Chevrolet Tahoe driven by Deonte Tywon "Strong" Jones as he fled from Pulaski County sheriff's deputies through the parking lot of a Walgreens drug store in the 3700 block of South University Avenue.

Jones pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder, leaving the scene of a fatality accident and fleeing before Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped a capital murder charge and marijuana-trafficking counts.

As a condition of his plea, Jones will serve a five-year suspended sentence after his release from prison.

Jones initially denied wrongdoing, telling investigators that the SUV had been stolen by someone else while he was inside the drug store.

Court files show the vehicle belonged to his aunt, Deana Powell, who reported it stolen the same day Cater was killed.

Powell told deputies that she'd loaned the vehicle to Jones a few days earlier but that she had reported it stolen because Jones had called to tell her someone stole it while he was at Walgreens.

Cater worked at the neighboring dental clinic, Rock City Smiles, and tried to get out of the way of the fleeing vehicle, which police say dragged her 75 feet before running over her.

According to court records and testimony from a previous hearing, sheriff's deputies just happened to stop by the Walgreens on an errand when a man inside the store who reeked of marijuana caught their attention. The man had gotten out of a black Tahoe that was parked outside with the engine running.

When a second man got out of the vehicle with something in his hand, some of the deputies followed him as he drove off in a black Dodge Charger that had been parked next to the SUV.

When investigators stopped the Charger a couple of blocks from the Walgreens, the driver, 41-year-old Clinton Moore of Benton, surrendered a small bag of marijuana he had in the car trunk.

Moore told deputies he had bought the marijuana from a passenger in the SUV he knew as "Four Track," but said he did not know the driver.

Court records show Moore was arrested for misdemeanor drug possession, but reached an agreement with prosecutors in December 2014 for the charge to be dismissed if he stayed out of trouble with the law for a year and paid a fine.

When the man who smelled of marijuana got back into the SUV in the Walgreens lot, deputies identified themselves as law-enforcement officers and ordered the man and the driver to put up their hands.

As deputies approached in their car, the SUV driver, later identified as Jones, put the SUV into reverse, backed out of his parking spot and started driving away. He drove about 350 feet before hitting Cater.

One deputy, Adam Robertson, got a good look at the driver and later identified Jones as the man behind the wheel. The vehicle got away after running over Cater but was found a short time later abandoned at a Burger King, where it had been left after striking a car in the restaurant lot.

Jones was arrested the following day. He does not have any prior felony convictions, although he had twice been charged with aggravated robbery. He was prosecuted as a juvenile for his first arrest in April 2012 when he was 16. Charges were dismissed from an August 2013 arrest.

Metro on 02/09/2016

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