Fired Little Rock police officer Josh Hastings was declared indigent at his second court appearance on a manslaughter charge on Monday, allowing him to apply for state financing for his defense.
At Hastings’ circuit court appearance, which lasted about 20 minutes, defense attorney Bill James told Judge Wendell Griffen that the 27-year-old Benton man needed assistance paying for an accident-reconstruction expert to review the prosecution’s findings at Hastings’ trial, which is scheduled for June 18. Hastings faces up to 10 years in prison.
He was arrested, then fired, by Little Rock police in connection with the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old car-burglary suspect. Hastings said the teen was trying to run him over while he assisted in investigating complaints about a series of car break-ins.
In a court filing, prosecutors did not disclose the name of their expert witness, but said he has been recognized as an expert witness in courts in 15 states, testified in 447 cases and has evaluated 2,821 vehicle accidents.
The expert has been retained to render an opinion regarding whether the car driven by the teen, Bobby Moore of Little Rock, could have traveled up an embankment as Hastings claims it did, the filing states. The witness will also offer an assessment of the speed of the car when it collided with a support beam and another parked car and what gear the vehicle was in, the filing states.
Hastings told investigators he opened fire in fear for his life after a car carrying three suspects drove toward him at 25 to 35 mph and the driver refused to obey his commands to stop during a late-night encounter in August at the Shadow Lake Apartments at 13111 W. Markham St. Hastings was one of several officers dispatched to the complex to investigate a complaint about someone breaking into cars.
The car did drive towardHastings at some point, according to the arrest report. But Hastings was arrested about a month later after detectives concluded, based on interviews with two teens in the car with Moore and physical evidence at the scene, that the vehicle had either stopped or was backing away from Hastings when Moore was shot.
In court filings, James said his legal fees are being paid by Hastings’ family, but that his client does not have the financial resources to personally pay for necessary defense expenses. The judge’s finding that Hastings is destitute allows him to apply to the Public Defender Commission for financing.
In a sworn statement to the court, submitted Friday, Hastings, who was fired in October, reported that he remains unemployed and that the family’s sole income comes from his wife’s $14-per-hour job at a Little Rock medical clinic. They have no savings or assets beyond their home and vehicles. They haveto pay medical bills and nursery care expenses, with an average monthly budget of $1,016, which includes $80 per month for food and a $536 house payment.
James told the judge that Hastings is considering claiming self-defense at trial but acknowledged the court precedent is against him.
Hastings is accused of acting recklessly when he opened fire, and chief deputy prosecutor John Johnson on Monday questioned the legality of a self-defense claim based on court rules interpreting Arkansas Code Annotated 5-2-614, part of the statute governing criminal liability.The statute has been interpreted to bar defendants from arguing self-defense if they were reckless or negligent in forming a belief that force was necessary or in employing an excessive force, according to court rules.
The judge told James to submit written legal arguments within a week justifying self-defense if Hastings decides to invoke that defense at trial.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 05/21/2013