Death penalty sought in Bay slaying case

JONESBORO -- Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington of Jonesboro will seek the death penalty against a man charged with capital murder in the July slaying of an elderly Craighead County woman.

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Ellington said Thursday that he amended charges filed against Richard Jordan Tarver, 30, of Bay to include the imposition of a death sentence if a jury convicts Tarver of capital murder. Tarver is accused of killing Lavinda Counce, 90, of Bay on July 3.

"After careful review of the investigative file, I believe the facts of this especially horrific case warrant its use and justice requires it," Ellington said in a news release.

Police said family members reported Counce missing July 3. Her car was found a day later in the parking lot of NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro, about 10 miles west of Bay.

The hospital's surveillance video showed a man parking Counce's car in the lot at 12:56 p.m. July 4 and walking toward U.S. 49, which runs by the hospital.

Searchers found Counce's body in a cornfield west of Bay on July 12. Counce had been shot in the head with a large-caliber weapon, Craighead County Sheriff Marty Boyd said.

Tarver was arrested at his home on July 17. He lives in a home behind where Counce lived.

Ellington said in the release that he considered several factors when deciding to include the death penalty in the case. He said Counce was slain for pecuniary gain; the defendant inflicted mental anguish prior to her death; Tarver inflicted serious physical abuse to Counce before killing her; he showed indifference to her suffering and "a sense of pleasure in committing the murder;" and the slaying was committed against a person Tarver "should have known was especially vulnerable to the attack because of her age and physical disability."

Tarver is also charged with kidnapping, aggravated robbery, aggravated residential burglary, abuse of a corpse, theft of property and possession of a defaced firearm.

He entered a plea of innocent in Craighead County Circuit Court, and authorities set his trial for March 14.

State Desk on 01/29/2016

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