FAYETTEVILLE -- A man pleaded guilty Thursday to stabbing to death a man described as a good Samaritan.
Cantrell Graydon stabbed David Allen, 25, at least 10 times early Oct. 24, 2015 at the Stadium Apartments, 1069 Olympic Place. Allen died later at a hospital.
Graydon was arrested later on the day of the stabbing. He was charged with capital murder.
The 33-year-old Fayetteville man stood before Washington County Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay in a nearly empty courtroom and pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors.
In exchange for his plea, Graydon was sentenced to 35 years at the Arkansas Department of Correction. He will have to serve about 24 years or 70 percent of his sentence, before becoming eligible for parole. He was given credit for 662 days of jail time served.
First-degree murder is punishable by 10 to 40 years or life in prison. Capital murder is punishable by life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.
Lindsay also ordered Graydon to read a letter from Allen's sister. Ashland Allen lives in Atlanta and was unable to attend the hearing.
She said by telephone Thursday the letter explained her younger brother was kind and always willing to help others in need. She said Allen was the glue that kept the family together during a challenging childhood when they were raised by their single father in Marianna.
"David was very outspoken, very courageous. He was always looking to make sure that everybody else would have a chance to make it," Allen said. "He wasn't just out there looking out for himself. He was always making sure he went the extra mile, that way he could always make somebody else's day or help somebody else with their troubles or in their time of need. He was the kind of friend everybody wished they had."
Allen said she hopes the letter will make Graydon understand how many people his actions hurt.
"I hope he just figures out that the choice he made was a bad choice. It affected a lot of people, it didn't just affect his life in that he has to sit somewhere and learn the lesson of what he did," Allen said. "It affected not just David's family, it affected his friends who looked up to him too."
Prosecutor Matt Durrett said Graydon was an acquaintance of a man who had fallen on hard times who Allen befriended. The man was staying at Allen's home and Graydon was visiting him when the killing happened, he said.
Witnesses at the apartment told police there was a fight among family that included Graydon.
According to a police report, Graydon's version of events was Allen and another man were fighting in a bedroom and he tried to break up the fight, but Allen "flipped out" on him.
Witnesses told police Graydon got a knife in the kitchen and started stabbing Allen.
Graydon threw the knife over a fence and fled. He turned himself in to police later that day.
Graydon told Lindsay in court Thursday he was "kind of drunk and took some pills I hadn't taken before and blacked out" the day of the stabbing.
In March, doctors at the Arkansas State Hospital found Graydon fit to proceed to trial.
Graydon was diagnosed with mild neurocognitive disorder due to traumatic brain injury with behavioral disturbance; alcohol use in sustained remission in a controlled environment; and, malingering or faking symptoms.
Graydon told doctors he was shot in the head several years ago in Little Rock.
NW News on 08/18/2017