A law passed by the Arkansas Legislature this session gives a judge no option in resentencing a man serving life in prison for capital murder committed when the man was a juvenile, Crawford County's prosecutor argued in a motion filed this week.
Marc McCune asked Crawford County Circuit Court Judge Gary Cottrell in a motion filed Tuesday to sentence Tony Ray to 30 years in prison as set out in Act 539 of 2017.
McCune wrote that the act, signed into law in March, provides for parole eligibility after Ray serves 30 years for his 1999 capital murder conviction.
"Since the above listed sentence is the only one available for the defendant, he should be sentenced as such," McCune argued.
Ray's attorney, Kent McLemore of Fayetteville, did not respond to a call to his office Thursday seeking comment.
On the same day McCune filed his motion, Cottrell issued an order setting Ray's resentencing jury trial for Oct. 2 in Van Buren.
Ray, now 36, was 16 when he shot 30-year-old Lisa Gail Lewis with a shotgun June 24, 1997. He was 18 by the time he was tried and convicted in Crawford County Circuit Court in September 1999 on charges of capital murder and theft. He has been in prison on the charge for nearly 18 years.
He was sentenced to life without parole on the capital murder charge and to 20 years plus a $15,000 fine on the theft charge. The theft charge was to run consecutively with the murder charge, according to court records.
McCune asked Cottrell in his motion to include the consecutive 20-year sentence and fine on the theft charge to Ray's sentence.
Ray is one of more than 50 Arkansans affected by a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that makes it unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to life in prison without the chance of parole. An Arkansas judge ruled last year that the juveniles who were sentenced to life should be resentenced retroactively.
Ray was charged with Michael Hinkston, who was 18 at the time. Hinkston was tried separately in 1998 and was convicted of capital murder and theft and sentenced to life without parole on the murder charge and to 30 years on the theft, to run consecutively with the murder sentence.
According to the court records, Ray and Hinkston broke into Lewis' home and waited all afternoon for her to return home. When she arrived, Ray took her into a back room and shot her three times with a shotgun in the neck, right hand and stomach. Police say she pleaded for her life and recited the Lord's Prayer.
The two stole Lewis' car with the intention of driving to Mississippi. Lewis called 911 after they left but died in the hospital from her injuries.
Ray and Hinkston were arrested shortly after stealing Lewis' car when they wrecked it on Interstate 40 in Van Buren.
State Desk on 05/06/2017