James Larail Sharp Jr.'s first-degree murder case won't be moved to juvenile court, the Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
Sharp was 15 years old when he took part in a robbery Jan. 23, 2016, that resulted in the shooting death of Kaleb Glenn Watson, 22, a student at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.
It was Sharp's brother, Shakur Sharp, then 16, who pulled the trigger, shooting Watson four times in the chest, according to Wednesday's appeals court ruling.
But James Sharp, who had tied Watson's hands with a shoelace, also was culpable, Sebastian County Circuit Judge Stephen Tabor had decided after a four-day hearing in 2017 in which 19 witnesses testified.
In Wednesday's ruling, the appeals court upheld Tabor's decision.
"The circuit court found that appellant's culpability was 'significant,' noting that '[h]e not only was present at the planning of the robbery and kidnapping, which led to the homicide, he actively participated in offenses he knew were being committed with a gun he had himself stolen," according to the appeals court ruling.
James Sharp had been a juvenile offender on four occasions and was on probation at the time of the homicide, according to the lower court ruling.
That ruling also cited the seriousness of the offense and the fact that the crime was committed in an aggressive, violent and premeditated manner, even though witnesses testified that James Sharp was "reluctant, nervous and scared."
"The evidence presented at the juvenile-transfer hearing supports trying appellant as an adult; accordingly, the circuit court's decision to deny appellant's juvenile-transfer motion was not clearly erroneous," Appeals Court Judge Robert Gladwin wrote for the majority. Chief Judge Rita Gruber and Judge Ray Abramson agreed.
James Sharp was charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and two counts of aggravated robbery in the death of Watson.
Shakur Sharp pleaded guilty to the same four charges Sept. 20 and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Dionte Parks also was 15 when officials say he participated in the robbery. Parks knocked on Watson's front door to distract him while the Sharp brothers -- wearing masks and dressed all in black -- entered through the unlocked back door, according to reports.
Parks ran home afterward instead of joining the other two in the robbery as they had planned, reports say. He faces the same charges as James and Shakur Sharp.
Parks asked that his case be moved to juvenile court, but Tabor denied it, and the appeals court agreed with Tabor in a Jan. 31 ruling.
The three are accused of conspiring to rob Watson, who lived in an apartment two doors down from Parks.
Shakur Sharp held a gun on Watson and Bailey Smith, 21, who was visiting Watson. After tying Watson's hands, James Sharp went to a closet and began loading Watson's shotguns into a bag, according to court filings.
Watson managed to free himself from the shoelace. When Shakur Sharp turned his back on him, Watson jumped him. They struggled, and Watson was shot four times and died.
The next day, Parks and his mother went to the Fort Smith police station to report what had happened, according to reports.
The Sharps were arrested in Little Rock four days after the homicide.
Metro on 04/19/2018