A Pulaski County circuit judge has restricted the potential testimony of a witness to the December 2015 shooting of a Little Rock man, after the defense argued that police had improperly influenced her to identify the gunman.
The victim, Johnny Lee Murry, was twice the target of gunfire over a three-month period between December 2015 and March 2016, both times while he had been in the same area on Colonel Glenn Road.
Bullets struck Murry three times on Dec. 15 in the 7100 block, then he was hit eight times on March 10 in the 6900 block.
Authorities say Murry, who has state and federal convictions for drug trafficking, robbery and escape, nearly died in the second shooting.
Police haven't said whether investigators have linked the shootings, but two men, both felons, have been arrested.
Michael Bernard Crawford, 57, is accused in the March shooting, and he's charged with first-degree battery, attempted second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by certain persons, felon. Those charges carry up to 60 years in prison. He is jailed and is awaiting trial next month.
Marcus Deshawn Simmons, 30, is accused in the December shooting and charged with first-degree battery, committing a terroristic act and possession of a firearm by certain persons, felon -- charges that together carry a potential life sentence.
Simmons has denied involvement, police say. He told detectives he was at a barber college where he was a student, about 2 miles from the shooting, when Murry was shot. He said he only left the campus briefly that day to pick up a takeout meal. He's free on bond awaiting trial in May.
Simmons became a suspect after narcotics detectives reported they'd heard that Murry was shot by someone named Juvie who frequented the College Station area. Murry also told the first officers on the scene that his assailant had called himself Juvie. Murry later picked out Simmons' photograph from a police photo lineup, authorities said.
At a hearing last week, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright sided with defense attorney Bill James, who argued that police had improperly influenced a witness who also picked Simmons out of a six-man police photo lineup as the man who shot Murry.
Wright ruled Thursday that at Simmons' May trial, the witness -- Ashley Danette Patillo, 28, of Little Rock -- won't be allowed to testify about how she came to identify Simmons as the gunman.
The judge's ruling came after Detective Terry McDaniel, who showed Patillo the photo lineup, could not explain why his recording of his interview with her did not include her selecting Simmons from the lineup.
Pressed by the defense attorney, McDaniel told the judge he couldn't say why he didn't record the identification procedure. He guessed he had halted the recording while he left to get the photos.
"I'm not sure why I paused," the detective said.
Patillo, her voice trembling, testified she saw a "little bit" of the shooting but has a hard time recalling it because it was so traumatic.
"I don't remember that day [well] because it was something that happened tragic, and I've tried to block it," she said.
Patillo said she was nervous about choosing one of the photographs, but that McDaniel immediately reassured her she'd made the right choice when she picked Simmons.
"He said, 'yeah, we know it was Marcus,'" she told the judge. "I wasn't really sure. Once I kind of sort of pointed to him, [McDaniel] said, 'yeah, we know.'
Patillo said she had smoked five "blunts," slang for marijuana and tobacco cigars, with Murry before the shooting. She said they were preparing to smoke a sixth when he was shot.
"I was high," she testified. "I was about to roll one, or maybe it was him."
Murry testified he was certain Simmons was the man who shot him. He said he told detectives immediately after he was wounded that he'd be able to identify the shooter.
"I told them I'd know him if I saw him," Murry told the judge.
Murry said he was sitting in his car when a man confronted him. Murrysaid he got out of the car as the man, a stranger, asked three or four times if Murry was looking for him.
Murry testified that he told the stranger he did not know him and asked who he was. The man told him his name was Juvie, Murry said.
"I didn't know him before that day," Murry, 43, told the judge.
Murry's injuries have required several surgeries, and he's had to go out of state for at least one operation. His recovery has delayed court proceedings because he has not been able to go to court.
At a Thursday hearing, prosecutors said Murry is about to undergo an operation that will graft bone from his hip to repair his jaw. Murry has previously appeared in court using crutches. Wearing an electric catheter, he was able to walk unaided, but slowly, to the witness stand.
His voice was hard to hear, requiring the judge to twice ask him to speak up.
When Murry was shot in December, it was the day before he was due to be sentenced in circuit court after pleading guilty to residential burglary and aggravated assault for forcing his way into another man's home in June 2013 while claiming to be a police officer.
He was shot that time as well. Police say a gun went off four or five times as Murry and resident Kra Brooks fought over the weapon. Murry was arrested later that day at the hospital where he'd gone to seek medical treatment.
Murry's sentencing hearing in that case has been delayed while he recuperates from his wounds.
Metro on 02/08/2017