FORT SMITH -- A boy who raised the insanity defense did not suffer from a mental disease at the time a 22-year-old student at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith was robbed and fatally shot, according to a mental evaluation.
Shakur Sharp, 17, is pursuing a defense that he suffered from a mental disease or defect at the time Kaleb Glynn Watson was robbed and killed Jan. 23 in Watson's townhouse at 4700 Windsor Drive.
Sharp, his younger brother James Lariel Sharp and Dionte Dewayne Parks have pleaded innocent in Sebastian County Circuit Court to charges of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of kidnapping.
Shakur Sharp was 16 at the time of Watson's death. James Lariel Sharp was 15 and Dionte Dewayne Parks was 16 at the time.
Attorneys for all three filed motions to transfer their cases to juvenile court and Circuit Judge Stephen Tabor had scheduled a hearing on the motions for May 27. He then froze all action in their cases after Shakur Sharp announced his intention to raise the insanity defense and until fitness to proceed and criminal responsibility evaluations were completed at the Arkansas State Hospital.
Upon completion of those evaluations last week, Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Shue wrote Tabor asking that trial dates be set for all three. As of Monday, there had been no response to Shue's request.
The fitness to proceed evaluation concluded Sharp was capable, at the time of the evaluation, of understanding the proceedings against him and of assisting in the preparation of his trial defense.
The criminal responsibility evaluation said that at the time of the offenses, Sharp was capable of realizing his conduct was wrong, could have stopped himself from acting unlawfully, but had the capacity to choose to do wrong.
In both evaluation reports, Sharp was diagnosed with conduct disorder and with disruptive mood dysregulation disorder. The report gave examples of conduct disorder as risky or illegal behavior and of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder as impulsive temper outbursts.
When asked to give his account of the events of Jan. 23, according to the report, Sharp said he was helping his sister because she needed money so she could see her boyfriend and put money on his phone account in jail.
He said he and his sister were knocking on doors trying to get money when he found and took a gun from one of the homes.
Later, the report said, he went to the home of Parks, who told him there were things he could steal and sell in Watson's home next door.
Sharp said in the report he decided to use the gun in the robbery to make sure things went easily.
While the Sharp brothers waited outside Watson's unlocked back door, Shakur Sharp said in the report, Parks knocked on the front door to distract Watson and allow the Sharp brothers to get inside. Once inside, according to Fort Smith police reports, they tied Watson's hands with a shoestring but did not tie up Watson's girlfriend.
As the three were about to leave, Watson freed himself from the restraint and struggled with Shakur Sharp.
Sharp said in the report that Watson jumped on his back.
"We were fighting for the gun," he said in the evaluation report. "The gun was going off and then I was scared and I ran away."
According to the report, Sharp said he did not find out until days later that Watson had died from multiple gunshot wounds.
State Desk on 09/20/2016