Two witnesses, one of them the mother of a toddler shot in the chest during a June 2016 rampage that left her boyfriend dead, were cleared to testify in the capital-murder trial next month of the suspect.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza rejected efforts by lawyers for Denzell Terrell Braud to block the testimony.
Braud was arrested within 30 minutes of the shooting at the Arkansas River Apartments on Cantrell Road in Little Rock. Killed were 22-year-old Cordarelle Collins of Pine Bluff, a father of four, and wounded were Alexis Symone Davis, 23, and her 3-year-old son, Khiry Zaire Davis.
Police said mother and child were both shot while hiding in a closet in their apartment. Investigators also found that cooking oil had been spread on the sofa and love seat along with indications that someone had tried to set the furniture on fire. The 25-year-old Braud, also was charged with two counts of first-degree battery. He faces a life sentence.
Police said Braud had lived in the apartment occasionally because he was dating Collins' mother, Sharonda Franklin. Franklin told police she'd left the home about four hours before the shooting because Braud had been acting strangely and was scaring her, according to reports.
Police found Braud so quickly because he called 911 while officers were still at the shooting scene to report that someone had just tried to shoot him and that he had been held against his will in the apartment, reports state.
Police reported finding him at the nearby Timberridge Condominiums, 301 Kingsrow Drive, where he had persuaded a resident to call police for him. He's been jailed ever since.
Davis did not see Collins killed but identified Braud as the gunman based on hearing Collins talking to the shooter and calling him "N.O," according to reports. The defense argued that her identification should be disallowed by the judge since it was based on hearsay.
Davis reportedly told police she heard Collins saying "Are you going to shoot me, N.O.?" and yelling, "N.O., why are you shooting me?"
Davis told police she knew Braud, a New Orleans native, to go by the nickname N.O. and did not know his real name until after he was arrested.
Deputy prosecutor Ashley Clancy said Davis' testimony was admissible, despite being hearsay, because of exemptions under the law for dying declarations and excited utterances. She said Collins was essentially narrating his own slaying, a situation that gave him no reason to lie about what was happening.
Davis did not testify and the judge rejected a defense request to question her before Braud's trial about what she heard.
But neighbor Dennis Ray Driskill did testify, explaining how he came to identify Braud as the man he saw running out of the apartment carrying two guns, one in his right hand and the other in his waistband.
Driskill, 52, said he had stepped out of his third-floor apartment to watch the sun rise. As he was about to go back inside, Driskill said he saw a stranger standing at the bottom of the stairs. He later identified Braud's photograph in a six-picture photo lineup that detectives showed him.
"I said hello. He didn't say anything back. I got a grimace from him," Driskill told the judge. "About 30 minutes later, all hell broke loose."
Driskill told the judge that he thought the noise he heard was retaining walls at the apartments collapsing, possibly because of construction on Cantrell Road. Driskill said he went outside to see what was happening and he saw the armed man run out of an apartment. Driskill told the judge he got a good look at the guns when the man jumped over an air conditioner on the grounds.
Driskill said he didn't see the gunman's face but believed him to be Braud because the gunman was wearing the same clothes he'd seen Braud wearing.
"I couldn't see his face so unless he changed clothes it's the same man I saw in the breezeway," Driskill told the judge. "I saw the gun. That's all my eyes focused on. That and getting my butt back inside the house."
Driskill said he hurried to get back inside and out of sight because he knew the gunman was running into a dead end behind the apartments.
"I knew ... he's going to have to come back," he told the judge.
The judge said he needed written arguments from the prosecution and the defense before he can rule on whether to allow police testimony that Braud, who had declined to be questioned by detectives, did tell one officer that he had fired a gun the day of the shootings.
Detective Tommy Hudson testified that Braud volunteered that information as Hudson checked Braud's hands for gunshot residue. Braud tested positive for residue, Hudson told the judge.
"He made the statement, 'I have shot a gun today but I do not know what happened. When I eat, I black out,'" the detective said.
Questioned by defense attorney Brett Qualls, Hudson said he didn't think Braud's remark about blacking out while eating was too peculiar. The detective said he's had other suspects make similar claims, typically to avoid having to take responsibility for something they've done.
Hudson testified that he was explaining how the gunshot residue test worked and had not asked Braud any questions when the defendant made the comment. Another detective had read Braud his rights before the test, Hudson told the judge. He said Braud declined to consent to the examination but that police conducted it anyway.
Metro on 07/27/2018