The capital-murder trial for the man charged in the killing of Johnson County reserve sheriff's deputy Sonny Smith last spring has been scheduled for the week of May 23.
Johnson County Circuit Judge William Pearson on Monday set the trial date for Fred Kauffeld, 51, who is charged with two counts of capital murder, two counts of attempted capital murder and one count of residential burglary.
Prosecuting Attorney David Gibbons said Tuesday that he has not decided whether to seek the death penalty against Kauffeld. A capital-murder conviction in Arkansas carries two possible sentences: death or life in prison without parole.
Kauffeld is accused of killing Smith, 42, an 11-year veteran of the sheriff's office, when he confronted Kauffeld after the burglary of a rural home near the eastern Johnson County town of Knoxville.
Kauffeld's trial had been scheduled for this week but was expected to be delayed after Pearson granted a defense motion last month to have Kauffeld examined for his mental fitness to proceed to trial.
Pearson also ordered Kauffeld to undergo an examination for criminal responsibility requested by Kauffeld's attorney, Bill James of Little Rock. The order, signed by Pearson on Dec. 18, says James intends to rely on a mental disease or defect defense.
"That Defense Counsel has reason to believe that due to mental disease or defect, Mr. Kauffeld may not fully understand the proceedings against him, and may not have been able to fully appreciate the criminality of the conduct for which he is accused and his ability to assist in his defense may be in question," James wrote in his motion for the mental examination, dated Dec. 16.
In a notice filed Oct. 7, James wrote that he intended to raise justification as a defense of the charges against Kauffeld. The notice did not elaborate on how Kauffeld would justify shooting Smith.
James also filed motions Oct. 7 to suppress physical evidence collected from a search warrant after S̶m̶i̶t̶h̶'̶s̶ Kauffeld's* arrest and statements he made to investigators.
According to testimony in a probable-cause hearing in May, Smith was one of two deputies who were called out to County Road 1723 about 1 a.m. May 15 on a report of forced entry to a home and items taken.
He joined a police dog team that arrived later and searched the woods in the area, according to the testimony. A deputy with a heat-detecting device picked up the heat reading of a person about 200 yards from where the break-in occurred.
Smith then heard someone approaching, according to the testimony, and yelled for the person to put up his hands. Kauffeld began shooting, firing all the rounds in his gun. Smith returned fire.
One of the two capital-murder charges against Kauffeld accuses him of killing a law enforcement officer in the line of duty. The other accuses him of committing murder during the commission of a felony, the burglary.
The two attempted-capital-murder charges accuse Kauffeld of shooting at the two other deputies with Smith at the time of the shooting.
On the burglary charge, testimony at the probable-cause hearing in May suggested that a plastic box of coins taken from the home was found near Kauffeld.
NW News on 01/27/2016
*CORRECTION: Attorney Bill James of Little Rock filed motions Oct. 7 to suppress physical evidence collected from a search warrant after Fred Kauffeld’s arrest and statements he made to investigators. The suspect in the arrest was misidentified in this story.