Man guilty in murder at LR mall

Jury deliberates only 30 minutes

A Pulaski County jury deliberated about 30 minutes Wednesday before deciding to send the 20-year-old Little Rock man charged in the killing of a restaurant manager during a Park Plaza holdup to prison for life.

ADVERTISEMENT

More headlines

The eight women and four men found Deonte Edison, who was also accused of trying to kill a second restaurant worker, guilty of all charges -- capital murder, attempted capital murder and two counts of aggravated robbery -- leaving a life sentence as the only punishment available for Circuit Judge Leon Johnson to impose.

Edison did not take the stand during the two-day trial.

His lawyer, Julia Jackson, called on jurors to find her client innocent of the accusations that he fatally shot 25-year-old Christian Ellis Hayes, the assistant manager of the Sbarro pizza restaurant during a February 2013 armed robbery. Edison worked at the restaurant, which has since closed.

Jackson presented no evidence Wednesday. With the defendant having admitted to police that he was at the restaurant when Hayes was killed, Jackson could not argue that Edison was not present during the robbery.

But, with the prosecution's case built on the testimony of the shooting survivor, Jashonta Thomas, Jackson attacked the woman's recollection of events. The 20-year-old testified, often emotionally, for more than an hour Tuesday.

Thomas, who suffered eight gunshot wounds, had been hurt too severely for her memory of what happened to be reliable, Jackson said in closing arguments.

"Jashonta Thomas is wrong. Just because she's said it's so, doesn't make it so," the defense attorney said. "People in this situation don't make good decisions. They don't make good observations. They can't."

Detectives didn't question Thomas until a month after the shootings, while she was still hospitalized and taking pain medications, which would have affected her memory, Jackson reminded jurors.

With Thomas' family having retained a lawyer for the possibility of suing the restaurant, that 30-day span also gave Thomas an opportunity to come up with a story that could further potential litigation, the defense argued.

Jackson also questioned whether Thomas had been honest in her testimony, accusing her of changing her story from what she originally told police.

The attorney also pointed out that Thomas had sometimes faltered on the witness stand and had complained of being confused and stressed by Jackson's cross-examination, which Jackson said further showed that Thomas' composure fails when she's in stressful and difficult conditions.

Chief deputy prosecutor John Johnson told jurors that Thomas was the best evidence they could hope for. He invoked her Phillips County hometown of Marvell to describe the woman who brought Edison and his co-defendant -- set to stand trial next month -- to justice.

"She's a marvel who survived eight gunshot wounds to come here and tell you -- and tell them [the defendants] she won't back down," Johnson said in his closing arguments. "She refused to die. There's no doubt about what they were trying to do and that's cause her death."

One of the first things Thomas told her rescuers when they found her gravely wounded was that "Deonte" was responsible, the prosecutor said. That one name led to the defendants' arrest within two hours of Hayes' death, he said.

Thomas knew both men well, the prosecutor said. Edison had been a co-worker, while co-defendant Tristan Lee'Andre Bryant, a former employee, had worked at the neighboring restaurant, and the 21-year-old had regularly chatted with Thomas.

Her identification of the men can't be disputed, Johnson told the jurors.

"She's seen this defendant in a room brighter than this, closer than I am to you, shoot Christian," he said. "If she doesn't have a question about [who shot her] then y'all shouldn't have a question."

The pair arrived at the restaurant with a plan to kill her and Hayes, said Johnson, who was assisted by deputy prosecutor Phillip Underwood. A bullet through the back that pierced Hayes' heart killed him, Johnson said. It was a wound almost instantly fatal, although Hayes tried to get away, the prosecutor said.

"In the last minute or two of his life, he's running for his life [after the gunshot]," he said. "But when your heart's blood is pumping out, that's a race you can't win."

A section on 08/21/2014

Upcoming Events