Jury doesn't buy that Little Rock man fired to protect pals, sentences him to 32 years in killing

A Pulaski County jury Wednesday rejected a Little Rock man's claim that he had to shoot a man in the back to protect his friends and sentenced Michael Mitchell to 32 years in prison after a two-day trial.

But the nine women and three men on the jury also rejected the prosecution's contention that the 20-year-old Mitchell had deliberately killed 37-year-old Troy Lee Holmes in December 2014. The shooting occurred at Holmes' southwest Little Rock home and also wounded his teenage stepdaughter.

Jurors deliberated about 90 minutes to convict Mitchell, reducing the first-degree murder charge, which describes purposeful conduct, to second-degree murder, which involves deliberately engaging in life-threatening behavior.

He was found guilty as charged for shooting 16-year-old Asia Lacy in the legs.

Jurors took about 50 minutes to decide on a punishment recommendation to Circuit Judge Barry Sims. Mitchell, who was 18 at the time of the slaying, will have to serve 8½ years before he can qualify for parole.

Senior deputy prosecutor Melanie Martin told jurors in her closing arguments that the Holmes family had done nothing to deserve what a stranger had inflicted on them two days after Christmas.

All Holmes had done was to order Mitchell and his friends off his property after Holmes' other stepdaughter told him they were scaring the family, Martin told jurors.

"That violence was brought to that house by one person, that defendant right there, Michael Mitchell," the prosecutor said. "Troy tells them to leave, and what does he [Mitchell] do? He shoots him in the back. This defendant brought evil and havoc to that home."

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With Holmes dying, Mitchell then went into the home, pistol-whipped Lacy and her mother, and fired another shot before leaving with his friends, the prosecutor said.

The choices Mitchell made that night leading up to the shooting show that he was trying to kill Holmes, Martin told jurors. Mitchell started by taking a loaded gun to Holmes' home, she said. Then when Holmes arrived to protect his house and family, Mitchell chose to run up and confront Holmes, Martin said.

Instead of leaving as Holmes had demanded, Mitchell chose stay, pull a gun out of the coveralls he was wearing and turn the weapon on the older man, she said.

"That gun didn't go off five times by accident," she told jurors. "A man who has time to reach down into a monkey suit, pull out a weapon, aim it and fire it has time to retreat."

Mitchell did not testify, and his lawyer did not call any witnesses. Defense attorney Bill Luppen told jurors in closing arguments that Mitchell was at most guilty of manslaughter for Holmes' death and that Lacy had been hit by accident.

Mitchell didn't know Holmes and was at the home only to help a friend retrieve her infant daughter from the baby's father, who was living with the Holmes family, Luppen said.

There had been some tension, and Holmes' wife was moving slowly to give the baby back, he told jurors.

Collecting the 2-month-old girl would likely have gone smoothly if a drunken and angry Holmes had not suddenly returned home, Luppen said. The next thing Mitchell knew, the large inebriated man was rushing toward his friends, threatening to kill them, the attorney said.

"It hadn't gotten fully out of control until Mr. Holmes got there," Luppen said. "[Mitchell] was only trying to protect his friends. It may be manslaughter, but it's not first-degree murder. Mr. Holmes escalated the situation completely."

The woman Mitchell had accompanied to the house said she thought the family was deliberately delaying her from collecting the child, according to testimony.

Mitchell had been beating and kicking on the door, which had scared Holmes' teen stepdaughters, one of whom called him to come home because she was scared, according to testimony.

Mitchell was an "18-year-old kid" forced into a situation he wasn't mature enough to handle, Luppen said, saying Mitchell "probably overreacted." He asked jurors to consider what happened from his client's point of view.

"He didn't ask for this. He wasn't hunting him down. Put yourself in Mr. Mitchell's situation," he said. "That big man -- if he got a hold of you, he could have committed murder or first-degree battery. You don't have to wait for that to happen" to act in self-defense.

Metro on 06/29/2017

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