Little Rock suspect in shooting 7-time felon, court filings show

The Little Rock man arrested Wednesday and accused of shooting his pregnant girlfriend was sentenced to prison 8½ months ago for beating the woman so badly her brain was bleeding, according to court documents.

The three-year prison sentence Cortez Handley received in October was the second time the 21-year-old defendant has been sent to the penitentiary.

Handley received an eight-year sentence the first time in March 2015 for two robberies he committed when he was 16, according to court files that also show he has served time in a Division of Youth Services lockup for unspecified offenses.

Police say Handley shot Amber Nicole Davis, 24, twice Saturday night, once in the stomach and once in the leg, during an argument at her home at the Fairfield Apartments on Green Mountain Drive. She was 21 weeks pregnant. One bullet went through a wall and into the neighboring residence of a family of three, according to police.

Handley fled but was arrested Wednesday at 422 Mimosa Road in North Little Rock by the Little Rock police Violent Crimes Apprehension Team. He's charged with first-degree domestic battery, felon in possession of a firearm and three counts of aggravated assault, charges that together carry up to 58 years in prison. Handley, with seven prior felony convictions, qualifies for an even longer sentence. He's being held in lieu of $500,000 bond at the Pulaski County jail.

It was the Violent Crimes Apprehension Team that arrested Handley last year, three days after he beat Davis unconscious in March 2017 at his mother's home at 1018 Patton Place where the couple had been living, according to an arrest report.

The couple had argued, and Handley reportedly punched Davis in the face twice, knocking her unconscious. He continued to beat her until other people at the home pulled him off of her, court filings show.

Interviewed in the hospital two days later, Davis told police she was trying to leave the house and remembered Handley following her outside. Her next memory was of emergency medical personnel questioning her before she passed out again. She suffered bleeding on her brain from the attack.

Handley's mother, 40-year-old Sane Montgomery, said she saw her son punch Davis at least once in the face, knocking the younger woman down.

After he was arrested, Handley said he had been playing cards and drinking alcohol with his family when Davis got mad. Montgomery said she then called 911.

He said they went outside to talk and that she pushed him, so he pushed her back, then punched her twice in the face, knocking her to the ground. Handley said he then left.

Handley spent about six months in jail before pleading guilty to second-degree domestic battery in exchange for a three-year prison sentence that would run concurrently with the eight-year sentence he received in March 2015 for two robberies.

Court files show Handley robbed three men at gunpoint in Little Rock during a three-day span in February 2014. He carjacked Fabien Orona on Valentine's Day 2014, then he and two unidentified persons stole Mikeael Williams' car at gunpoint while also robbing Williams' passenger, Jerod Crutchfield, after Williams gave Handley and the two others a lift to a residence on Katherine Street.

Handley surrendered to police two months later, two days after he turned 17. Court filings show he was incarcerated in the Division of Youth Services while waiting for his case to be resolved.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of theft and three counts of robbery, reduced from aggravated robbery, in exchange for the eight-year term.

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Metro on 06/16/2018

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