A Pulaski County circuit judge on Thursday cut in half the $1 million bail of a 26-year-old Little Rock man charged with first-degree murder after defense attorney Greg Bryant produced two alibi witnesses who can testify that the defendant was with them when the victim was killed.
Bryant also derided the case against Cherard Durel Harriott as utterly lacking, with no physical evidence and no eyewitnesses connecting the defendant to the January slaying of 25-year-old Alex Ward.
Ward, whose mother is married to a Little Rock police officer, was found fatally wounded from gunfire in front of an abandoned home on Baltimore Street.
Police found evidence that the killing had been part of an attempt to frame another man, Edmond Blue, according to police testimony Thursday.
The only evidence police have against Harriott is statements from two men, one of whom says he heard the defendant talking about the killing while the other says the defendant told him about it.
Neither man came forward until five months after Ward was killed, Bryant said.
Bryant scoffed at police testimony that those witnesses knew things about the killing that only someone involved with the crime would know. The information they claim to have became common knowledge on the street by the time they went to police, Bryant said.
Bryant introduced Christopher Bernard Kelley and Ryan Frierson to the court, saying that both men would swear under oath that Harriott was with them when Ward was killed.
Although Judge Barry Sims reduced Harriott's bail, he also ruled that the man can only be released from jail if he puts up $50,000 in cash toward his new $500,000 bail.
Prosecutors expressed concern that Harriott's release could put a key witness in danger.
Harriott is a "known gang member" who is already facing charges over allegations that he shot that witness, 31-year-old Travis Weston, deputy prosecutor Amanda Fields said.
Court records show that Weston was wounded in a drive-by shooting at a convenience store on South University Avenue on June 23, six days before police arrested Harriott on the murder charge.
Weston was also arrested because he's a felon prohibited from owning guns, and police had collected video of him shooting back at his assailant, court records show.
Detective Matt Hoffines told the judge that Weston had information about Ward's killing that police never made public.
The victim was found with a bottle of pills, a .357-caliber pistol and some cash, and Weston knew the caliber of the gun and was able to tell police that the killer had not taken all of Ward's money, the detective said.
Hoffines said police have information that Ward had been selling "fake" pills at the time, and had also been trying to buy a gun.
Ward and Harriott, who had once been close friends, had met hours before Ward was killed in an attempt to purchase a weapon, the detective testified.
Harriott did not own the weapon, but was brokering the sale for a third party, Hoffines said. Ward did not buy the gun because it was not what he was looking for, the detective testified.
Police do not have a firm motive for the killing, Hoffines said. They are investigating rumors that a "money-hungry" Harriott killed Ward during a robbery.
There is also speculation that Harriott went after Ward because a "hit" has been ordered on Harriott's brother and Ward had been inquiring about it, the detective said.
Hoffines said Ward and Harriott had been close friends but had a falling out over a woman who chose to be with Ward.
Hoffines described arresting Harriott several years ago. The defendant was with members of a "hit squad," the Highland Park Piru gang, that police found to be carrying guns.
Harriott was charged with a misdemeanor weapons charge, the detective said, adding that he did not know whether Harriott had been convicted.
Most recently, Harriott has been on probation since December on a felony fleeing conviction for leading the highway patrol on a pursuit in September 2015. He had a stolen .40-caliber pistol when the troopers arrested him, court filings show.
Metro on 09/23/2016