Bid to cut $1 million bail fails

Judge then denies any amount in LR capital-murder case

A capital-murder suspect’s request for a 90 percent reduction in his $1 million bail was denied Tuesday by a Pulaski County circuit judge who ruled the Little Rock man did not qualify for any amount of bail.

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Jamar Dewayne Jordan, 20, had requested that his bail be reduced to $100,000, but Judge Leon Johnson said children could have been endangered during the Christmas Eve shooting of Austin Quinn Burks outside his South Adams Street home.

Burks, a father of two, was shot to death in front of four people in the late afternoon on a narrow two-lane residential street where children could have been playing, Johnson said after hearing police testimony.

The number of witnesses, who all identified Jordan as the gunman, although only one knew him by name, was also significant in the decision to deny bail, the judge said. Johnson also noted that Jordan is awaiting trial in a separate shooting.

Court records show Jordan is charged with first-degree battery, accused of shooting Kiari Riggins, 23, several times at a home at 2302 S. Valentine St. in August 2012. Police developed Jordan as a suspect within a week of the shooting, and witnesses identified him as the gunman from photographs, court filings show.

When Jordan was arrested on Oct. 21, 2012, on the battery charge at the State Fair on Howard Street, he was found to be carrying a small piece of crack cocaine, which led to him being charged with possession of a controlled substance, according to police reports.

Prosecutors said the defendant had been released from jail on $100,000 bond about two months before Burks was killed, and he was in court for a hearing on the drug charge 10 days before the Christmas Eve killing.

Deputy prosecutor Kelly Ward said authorities are seeking a life sentence for Jordan and that he was identified as the shooter by the four witnesses, who not only picked his photograph out of a lineup but were also able to identify the burgundy Nissan Maxima that carried the gunman.

The vehicle, with a damaged windshield, is fairly distinctive, according to testimony. After police developed Jordan as a suspect, the man’s stepfather directed police to where they could find the car, detective Silas Brad told the judge.

Brad testified that Burks had just been dropped off by his girlfriend, Jordan Jones, 23, when the Maxima first drove by. Burks was leaning into the driver’s window of a black 2014 Dodge Avenger, talking to the people inside about 10 minutes later, when the Maxima returned with two men inside wearing hoodies, the detective testified.

The driver opened fire, hitting Burks in the back of the head and striking the Avenger, Brad said. The Avenger driver, Kyron Richardson, was grazed in the leg, but passengers Douglas Clayton and Jamie Olatreece Clayton were not injured, the detective told the judge. The second hooded man in the Maxima has not been identified.

Jordan surrendered to police Jan. 3, and received an additional charge, possession of prohibited articles, when deputies found a cellphone in his pants during a strip search while booking him into jail, court filings show.

Only one of the witnesses, Jamie Clayton, 20, identified Jordan by name. Defense attorney Lew Marczuk urged the judge to question Clayton’s credibility, pointing out that Clayton is awaiting trial in the judge’s court on aggravated-assault and second-degree battery charges. Clayton is one of three men accused of engaging in an October 2013 shootout with Little Rock police at a South Monroe Street home.

Clayton also is charged with seven counts of committing a terroristic act, over allegations he shot at a house, a bus and 12 people near West 25th and Lewis streets three days after Burks was killed.

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/17/2014

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