Robber's killing called justified in Fort Smith

FORT SMITH -- A man who stabbed an intruder to death during a January robbery won't be charged with the killing but will be charged with possessing the drugs the intruder was trying to steal, Sebastian County's prosecutor announced Monday.

Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Shue ruled Miller Luke was justified in causing the death of Jameski Bibbs, 22, of Little Rock during a Jan. 15 robbery at Luke's apartment in Fort Smith.

"The killing of Jameski Bibbs was the result of physical force being reasonably and justifiably applied pursuant to Arkansas law," Shue wrote in a release announcing the prosecutor's decision.

In the release, Shue recounted facts uncovered in the police investigation. Luke told police he was asleep in his apartment around 3:30 a.m. when he was awakened by a masked man pistol-whipping him with his own gun that Luke kept near the bed.

The intruder, later identified as Bibbs, pointed the gun at Luke and ordered him to open his safe, which was in his bedroom closet, according to the release.

Luke started to remove marijuana and cash from the safe and put them into Bibbs' backpack. Bibbs pushed Luke out of the way and finished emptying the safe himself, the release said.

Luke told police Bibbs had purchased marijuana from him in the past so Bibbs knew there was marijuana and cash in Luke's apartment.

The release said Luke remembered that he had a knife on the shelf of the closet, grabbed it and stabbed Bibbs in the back. Bibbs tried to fire the gun at Luke, Shue wrote, but there wasn't a round in the chamber.

Luke "then stabbed the intruder several more times and Luke and the intruder fought throughout the apartment," the release said. At one point, Luke fell and cut himself on the arm.

The struggle ended with Bibbs dying on the kitchen floor of the apartment, police said at the time.

While Shue ruled Luke was justified in using deadly force against Bibbs, the investigation did not end there. Luke called his roommate, Isaiah Graham, who slept through the fight, and Graham took the drugs to a neighboring apartment to avoid the police finding them.

Officers found a marijuana pipe sitting on a coffee table, a set of scales with marijuana on and around them, and a box of sandwich bags, the release said.

Shue said in the release that an affidavit for a warrant for arrest has been prepared for Luke on charges of simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, possession of marijuana with the purpose to deliver, maintaining a premises for drug activity and possession of drug paraphernalia, all felonies.

An affidavit for a warrant was prepared for Graham on charges of tampering with physical evidence and possession of marijuana, the release said.

Neither Luke nor Graham had been booked into the Sebastian County jail Monday afternoon.

State Desk on 04/09/2019

NW News on 04/10/2019

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