HOT SPRINGS -- After nearly three hours of deliberation, an eight-woman, four-man Garland County Circuit Court jury was unable to reach a verdict Thursday afternoon in the murder trial of Dylan Wayne Carpenter.
Judge John Homer Wright declared a mistrial around 5 p.m. Thursday. It is unclear whether prosecutors will choose to retry the case.
Carpenter, 21, was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of Quadryon Gipson, 20, of Hot Springs. Gipson was shot Jan. 15, 2017, during what police believe was a botched drug deal in the parking lot of Hot Springs Mall Cinema.
Carpenter admitted to police and testified Thursday morning that he shot Gipson when it became clear that Gipson had planned to rob him instead of purchase drugs when they met for the exchange in the parking lot. Carpenter also admitted to shooting Malik Deon Blevins, who accompanied Gipson to the scene, in the knee. Blevins, 22, pleaded guilty in May to manslaughter and robbery charges and was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Blevins testified Wednesday that he and Gipson had planned to rob Carpenter. Expert witnesses said text records obtained from cellphones confirmed the robbery had been planned up to two days in advance. Blevins said he and Gipson persuaded Mochariee Kewanna West, 23, of Hot Springs to contact Carpenter about buying marijuana from him because they "needed a female" to act as a decoy to execute their plan.
West, 23, is set to stand trial Aug. 7 on the same charges as Blevins.
The key question in the case was whether Carpenter's actions were justified, and whether he acted in self-defense because he thought the people he met in the parking lot were going to rob and kill him. Carpenter testified that he believed Gipson had a gun and was holding it to his back while he stood outside the black Ford Explorer in which the three had arrived.
Carpenter's attorneys pressed him during testimony about whether he felt his life was threatened when he met Gipson and the others. Carpenter said he had "an eerie feeling" after the meeting was postponed for almost an hour and then moved from the Hot Springs Mall to the movie theater behind the mall.
"Were you afraid?" defense attorney William James asked Carpenter.
"I was," Carpenter said, describing a scene where Blevins, sitting in the back seat of the Explorer, grabbed his wrist while Gipson walked around behind him, holding what Carpenter said he believed to be a gun to his back.
Carpenter said he heard someone say "stick it to him," and shortly after that Carpenter grabbed a .45-caliber gun from a shoulder holster, turned around, shot Gipson and then turned back around to fire a shot into the car, hitting Blevins.
"I thought they were going to kill me," Carpenter said.
Defense attorneys brought in character witnesses, mostly family friends, who testified they had never known Carpenter to have a violent side. The defense painted a picture of a young man with a bright future who had plans to go to college, had relished playing baseball in high school and who was part of a respected and supportive family. Carpenter said he had never pointed a gun at anyone before in his life.
Prosecutors highlighted numerous inconsistencies in Carpenter's initial interview with the police after the shooting. Carpenter confirmed the inconsistencies, testifying he lied about why he went to the movie theater, where he went after the shooting and where he had obtained his gun. Prosecutors argued that if Carpenter had lied about so many details initially, then he also could have lied about Gipson holding a gun to his back.
"He wants you to believe there was a gun at his back because he needs you to believe there was a gun at his back," deputy prosecutor Shana Alexander said in closing arguments. "Is Dylan Carpenter a mad dog? No. He was a scared, armed drug dealer who used unreasonable force."
While the defense tried to downplay the fact drugs were involved, the prosecution argued Carpenter's selling of illegal substances should play a central role in the case.
"He carries a gun all of the time because he deals drugs," Alexander told the jury. "He has to be prepared. He went there with a loaded gun."
Carpenter testified that while he thought Gipson was holding a gun to his back, he never saw a gun on Gipson nor on anyone inside the vehicle. It was also unclear how far Gipson was standing from Carpenter when Carpenter shot him. Carpenter testified no one in the vehicle made any aggressive movements toward him, but he remained afraid for his life because he was not sure whether they were armed or would harm him in another way.
Carpenter admitted he fled the scene, threw his gun off a bridge and found a place to hide. He said he went to the police later that evening after his mother notified him that they identified her Mustang as the second vehicle at the scene.
State Desk on 06/29/2018