17-year-old accused in killing of Little Rock toddler seeks juvenile status

Larry Jackson, 17
Larry Jackson, 17

One of two young men accused of killing a 2-year-old Little Rock girl is asking Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims to transfer his capital-murder charges to juvenile court, the 17-year-old defendant's lawyer said Thursday.

Larry James Jackson of North Little Rock and co-defendant Deshaun Malik Rushing, 22, of North Little Rock made their second Circuit Court appearances Thursday, with new lawyers. They had been represented by public defenders.

The judge set a Dec. 4 evidentiary hearing for the defendants. Jackson is to stand trial on Dec. 5, and Rushing's trial is set for February. Chief deputy prosecutor John Johnson told the judge he wanted to try Jackson first.

Jackson and Rushing are charged with capital murder and unlawful discharge of a firearm over the November 2016 slaying of Ramiya Reed, the toddler who was killed just before Thanksgiving while she was riding in a car in southwest Little Rock with her mother and several cousins.

[HOMICIDE MAP: Interactive map of Little Rock’s 2016 killings]

Authorities say the toddler's killing sparked an escalation in violence between feuding gangs in Little Rock, particularly the Monroe Street Hustlers and the Murder Mafia.

Jackson and Rushing were arrested in May, six months after the girl's death and after her mother, Rokiya Williams, told police that Jackson and Rushing each had a pistol and were in the vehicle from which the fatal shot was fired, according to an arrest affidavit.

Rushing's new attorney is Ron Davis, who has represented numerous defendants charged with high-profile violent crimes.

Davis appeared in court Thursday fresh from his successful defense on Wednesday of a Little Rock man whom the jury acquitted on self-defense grounds.

Among Davis' clients is Gary Eugene Holmes, charged with capital murder in what police have described as the road-rage slaying of another Little Rock toddler, who was killed a month after the shooting of Ramiya Reed. He also represented Quenton King, the Little Rock restaurateur convicted last month for killing his longtime mistress, who was pregnant with his daughter.

Defense attorney Willard Proctor, a former circuit judge who regularly represents teenagers charged with violent crimes, has taken on Jackson's case. Jackson was 16 when the girl was killed.

In his transfer petition, Proctor acknowledges that Jackson has prior convictions both in juvenile court and as an adult. He describes Jackson's prospects for rehabilitation in the juvenile-justice system as "extremely good."

"The offense is not a part of a repetitive pattern of adjudicated offenses that would lead to the determination that the juvenile is beyond rehabilitation," the petition states. "The prior history, character traits and mental maturity all indicate that the juvenile's prospects for rehabilitation are extremely good."

Jackson has been classified as an adult defendant since he was 14, when he was arrested in October 2014 on suspicion of armed robbery. He was carrying a gun and on juvenile probation when police took him into custody.

By the time he was charged in Ramiya's death, Jackson already had two felony theft convictions, had served six months in a youth lockup and was facing two more felony charges, both of them involving stolen cars.

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Metro on 11/03/2017

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