FORT SMITH -- Two separate shootings Feb. 14 have led to three people being charged with murder, according to Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Shue.
They were arraigned Wednesday in Sebastian County Circuit Court.
Each entered "not guilty" pleas through their public defenders before Sebastian County Circuit Judge Stephen M. Tabor of the Greenwood District in two different arraignments. A Mulberry man is charged in one slaying on Feb. 14, and a couple from Fort Smith are charged in the other slaying.
James Michael Shoemake, 22, of Mulberry is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated robbery in the death of Jeremiah Allen, 22, according to Shue's office in the 12th Judicial District.
First responders found Allen on the ground Feb. 14 in the 1500 block of Boston Avenue. He had been shot once in the back, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Allen's ex-girlfriend told police that she had been in an apartment with Shoemake when Shoemaker went outside. He ran back inside about 15 minutes later, saying that he had just shot someone, according to the affidavit. The woman noticed that he had a gun in his pocket, which he hid inside a wall of the apartment, the affidavit states.
The woman went outside and found Allen, according to the affidavit.
Police searched Shoemake's apartment Feb. 15 and found the gun hidden in the wall, according to the affidavit.
In the other shooting Feb. 14, the prosecutor has charged Jeffery Allen Workman, 46, and Jennifer Renee Martin, 39, with first-degree murder in the death of Stephen D. Basham, 34, of Hackett. They are also charged with aggravated residential burglary.
Officers were called to investigate a shooting on Plum Street in Hackett. They found one person dead, and one who had head trauma, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Investigators searched a home on Texas Road in Fort Smith, according to the affidavit. They found a baseball bat used in the Hackett attack and a 9mm handgun matching shell casings left at the scene, according to the affidavit.
Investigators obtained a statement from someone at the residence implicating Workman as the person who took the bat and the gun to the Hackett home, according to the affidavit.
Shoemake's trial has been set for the week of July 12 before Sebastian County Circuit Judge R. Gunner Delay in the Fort Smith District.
The trial of Workman and Martin is scheduled for the same time period before Tabor.