Court rejects appeal from man accused in attack on Arkansas police officer

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a man who pleaded guilty to attempted capital murder of a Fort Smith police officer and kidnapping.

Elvis Thacker said prosecutors failed to provide videos of the incident and argued that evidence favorable to him was withheld, that his guilty plea was coerced and that he is innocent.

Thacker pleaded guilty to stabbing an officer when police forced their way into an apartment in 2011 to arrest him on a rape charge that was later reduced to kidnapping. Thacker said he acted in self-defense because he didn't know it was police entering the apartment.

The court rejected the arguments Thursday, with two justices dissenting.

Thacker was later convicted in an unrelated case of killing a Fort Smith woman in Oklahoma.

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