LITTLE ROCK — In exchange for a 30-year prison sentence, a 24-year-old Little Rock man admitted Thursday that he accidentally killed his girlfriend while playing with a pistol.
Jermaine Norrise pleaded guilty to manslaughter and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the Feb. 3 shooting death of 19-year-old Liliana Cazares, whose body was found floating in the Arkansas River. She was Little Rock's first homicide of the year. Ten years were added to Norrise's sentence because he used a gun in the crime.
In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped a felony abuse-of-corpse charge and recommended to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims a 40-year sentence with 10 years suspended. Norrise will have to serve at least five years before he can qualify for parole. The maximum penalty for manslaughter, a Class C felony, is 10 years.
The shooting was witnessed by 21-year-old Tony Jerome Braswell of Little Rock, Pulaski County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kim Wilson told the judge Thursday. Braswell had gone to the couple's home to buy marijuana from Norrise, the prosecutor said. Norrisegot out his 9mm pistol during the visit and was playing with the weapon, according to Wilson, when it discharged. The bullet struck Cazares in the throat.
Norrise, who got Braswell to help him load the wounded woman into a car, said he was going to take her to a hospital, Wilson said. But Cazares was found in the river three days later, the prosecutor said.
As part of his agreement with prosecutors, Norrise also pleaded guilty to unrelated drug charges for a December arrest near Geyer Springs Elementary School with marijuana and measuring scales. Sims imposed the two concurrent 10-year sentences for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and drug paraphernalia possession. That prison time will be served concurrently with his 30-year sentence.
Sims also revoked Norrise's probation for a 2005 theft-by-receiving conviction, imposing a five-year sentence that will run concurrently with his other convictions.
Prosecutors also dropped aggravated robbery and felony theft charges against Norrise. He was accused of being the getaway driver in the June 2005 holdup ofa Comcast Cable clerk who was bound with duct tape at the company's South Shackleford Road office. Two Little Rock men arrested with Norrise have pleaded guilty to the robbery and are in prison:
Ricky Dale Golden, 26, received 17 years for aggravated robbery, theft, attempted first-degree battery and felon in possession of a firearm.
Albert Dwayne Stevenson, 20, received 15 years with five suspended for aggravated robbery.
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 10/26/2007