Innocent is plea in Arkansas killing

CONWAY -- A man charged with murdering a Conway man who was helping his daughter with a flat tire pleaded innocent in Faulkner County Circuit Court.

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Sammie Thomas Jr., 38, of Conway entered the plea Monday in the Sept. 9 shooting death of Robert Lee Givens, 66.

Thomas is charged with capital murder and possession of a firearm by certain persons -- a convicted felon in his case.

Thomas was in jail on other charges when he was identified as a suspect in the Givens killing. Those charges include first-degree false imprisonment and third-degree domestic battering, both felonies; and first-degree criminal mischief, a misdemeanor. Authorities have said those charges resulted from the beating of a woman at a Conway motel.

Under Arkansas law, a capital-murder conviction leads to a sentence of death or life in prison without parole.

Thomas' next pretrial hearing is Dec. 19.

Police have said Givens' daughter told them that her father had taken her to a Wal-Mart store to get something to fix a flat tire. After they left the store, a tan sport utility vehicle approached from behind them and flashed its lights, prompting her father to pull over, she told police.

The daughter said she heard the SUV driver say he thought her father was someone else, according to police. The men exchanged words and her dad drove away, she said. A short time later, the SUV driver pulled up beside them and shot her father, she told police.

State Desk on 10/19/2016

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