LITTLE ROCK — The trial of a 26-year-old Sheridan man involved in a Little Rock bar altercation that led to the death of an Oklahoma man was delayed this week because the pool of potential jurors was too small.
With only 24 potential jurors available out of about 40 summoned on Wednesday, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright did not have enough people to select the necessary 13 jurors, including an alternate, to proceed. He rescheduled the trial of Aaron Glenn Threlkeld to Nov. 8.
Threlkeld, a nurse at Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock, is charged with second-degree battery over his September 2010 encounter at the Electric Cowboy nightclub with Elzie Cain, a 25-year-old Ardmore, Okla., police officer visiting North Little Rock for National Guard sniper training.
Punched in the face by Threlkeld, Cain hit his head on the floor of the Interstate 30 club, authorities said. He died at the same hospital that employs Threlkeld.
Threlkeld faces up to six years in prison on the Class D felony charge. Threlkeld was protecting himself, his attorney Patrick Benca told the judge in pretrial arguments Thursday, saying Cain was about to hit Threlkeld.
Benca also persuaded the judge to restrict how many autopsy photographs prosecutors could show jurors, arguing that only a couple of photographs would be necessary since Threlkeld is not accused of killing Cain.
According to pretrial testimony from Cain’s friends, the men had quarreled over the affections of Holly Smith, Threlkeld’s former girlfriend who had been dancing with Cain.
Cain’s parents, Dalton Lee and Lori Jean Cain of Oklahoma, sued the club and Threlkeld last month, claiming club bouncers put their son in a chokehold after he was knocked to the ground, which inflicted injuries that contributed to his death.
They also said the club’s security was inadequate and that bouncers should have known there would be hostility between the men since Cain was with Threlkeld’s former girlfriend. The family’s wrongful death lawsuit, filed with Circuit Judge Collins Kilgore, asks for damages, including their son’s pain and suffering and funeral costs.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 10/29/2011