Late witness delays Little Rock murder trial; judge jails ex-girlfriend of defendant and victim

Judge resets date for November

Charles O'Neal.
Charles O'Neal.

The murder trial of a Little Rock man who said he was forced to shoot a man to save himself was delayed Tuesday after the prosecution's key witness -- a woman who has children with both men -- was more than an hour late getting to court.

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Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims ordered Abigail Sharonda Ransom arrested for not obeying a prosecution subpoena to be at the courthouse at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday for the trial of Charles Anthony O'Neal, 33, of Little Rock.

Deputy prosecutor Kelly Ward told the judge that the 26-year-old North Little Rock woman was the only eyewitness to the April 2015 shooting of Owen Damar Harvey of Jacksonville.

Ransom has had difficulties showing up on time for meetings with her and co-counsel, Luke Daniel, to prepare for the trial, Ward told the judge.

The prosecutor said she feared Ransom would not show up for the trial, and Ransom had not arrived by the time Sims ordered sheriff's deputies to find her and arrest her.

Ransom was taken into custody when she arrived at court later in the morning after the judge had dismissed the jury pool. She was booked into the Pulaski County jail Tuesday afternoon.

O'Neal is charged with first-degree murder for shooting Harvey, whom police found unconscious and fatally wounded in front of O'Neal's West 24th Street home, less than two weeks before Harvey's 30th birthday.

Defense attorney Ron Davis told the judge Tuesday that O'Neal will present a self-defense argument for the fatal shooting. The trial is now scheduled for November.

According to police reports, officers had been called to the neighborhood to investigate a complaint about shots fired when they were flagged down by Ransom, who said O'Neal had shot Harvey during an argument.

Harvey, a father of two, and Ransom had a daughter in 2011, court records show.

The report does not provide further details of what Ransom said occurred between the men.

Court records show Ransom also had filed for an order of protection against O'Neal a year before before the fatal encounter.

She reported that she was pregnant with O'Neal's child and that they had been living together at his West 24th Street home in March 2014.

She stated that O'Neal had grabbed her by the neck and shoved her, pulled her hair and pushed her down March 28, 2014, three days before she filed the petition. Her daughter, the child with Harvey, had witnessed O'Neal abusing her, Ransom claimed in her petition.

She further complained that O'Neal had abused her throughout their relationship, including beating her in front of her mother.

The petition was dismissed when Ransom did not show up for a court hearing. She gave birth to O'Neal's son in November 2014, about nine months after she filed the petition. Records indicate she has four children, although it's not clear how many live with her.

Court records show Ransom's parental rights to Harvey's daughter were terminated by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Patti James in October 2014.

The Department of Human Services had taken custody of the girl in March 2013 after police found the toddler wandering the neighborhood without shoes or socks.

The child was returned to her custody for a two-month period in March 2014 on the condition that no men were to be around the girl while she was living with Ransom.

The judge placed the girl in foster care the next month after learning that Ransom had been in two altercations with O'Neal shortly after the girl was returned to her.

The Department of Human Services petitioned the court to remove the girl permanently, partly on grounds that Ransom appeared indifferent to remedying the problems that the agency had found necessary to remove the girl from Ransom's care.

More recently, Ransom was fined $560 with a one-year suspended jail sentence May 16 after pleading no contest to violating a domestic order of protection against her in November.

Court records show she was court-ordered to have no contact with another former boyfriend, Billy McKinney, 35, of Little Rock, until December 2018 after he reported Ransom had threatened him with a knife in October 2015 after they'd been dating about three months.

Metro on 09/21/2016

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