Attorney Bill James was relieved Thursday as counsel for capital-murder suspect Darrell Dennis, and the 48-year-old Little Rock man's trial was delayed indefinitely until he can get another lawyer, which will be his third.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza concluded a 23-minute hearing convened Thursday to address Dennis' grievances with James by saying he would allow Dennis to get a new lawyer -- either by hiring one or by appointment from the state -- because of Dennis' ongoing complaints about James' performance and Dennis' accusations that the lawyer was colluding with prosecutors to convict him. James did not speak during the hearing.
James is "one of the best lawyers who comes in this courthouse" and should not have to endure Dennis' baseless accusations, the judge said, predicting that Dennis will quarrel with whomever next takes over the defense.
Dennis said his family wants to hire a lawyer for him. The judge said he would notify the Public Defender Commission to provide an attorney and will set trial dates at a hearing next month once Dennis has new legal representation, however he gets it.
"Whoever they [the commission] send, you are not going to like," Piazza said.
Dennis' arrest as a suspect in the May 2013 slaying of 18-year-old Forrest Abrams prompted legislative overhaul of the state parole system after lawmakers learned Dennis was an eight-time parole absconder who had picked up 10 felony drug charges over the 4½ years he'd been on parole but had never been returned to prison.
Abrams, whose body was found in a Little Rock street, was killed about 36 hours after Dennis was released from jail after his arrest for missing a court date on the drug charges, which he has since been convicted of.
Dennis has accused prosecutors and James of being swayed by the attention his case has drawn to deliberately ignore evidence he says will clear him, including video surveillance of the convenience store parking lot where Abrams and an acquaintance, Tyler Hodges, were said to be abducted.
Hodges was not harmed and told police he escaped by persuading his abductors to take him to a relative's home to get money.
Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for Dennis, who is also charged with robbing and kidnapping Abrams and Hodges.
With his trial in two weeks, Dennis told the judge Thursday that James hadn't interviewed the store clerk, Johnny Reeves, who told police he did not see anything unusual happen that night.
Reeves should be the "star witness" for the defense, Dennis said.
"I did not do this. A thorough investigation with a competent attorney would show this," Dennis told the judge.
Dennis, a 10th-grade dropout with 23 felony convictions over 30 years, told the judge he was "thrilled" when James was appointed in December but that now he'd prefer to go to trial alone if he couldn't get another lawyer.
"If I've got to go to court with Bill James, I'd rather represent myself," he told the judge, disputing Piazza's assessment of the lawyer. "I'm not going anywhere with Bill James."
Dennis has filed eight handwritten documents outlining his grievance with James since a suppression hearing last month.
But the filings show that Dennis doesn't understand how the law works, the judge told him.
"The things you wanted brought up were not relevant and not admissible. You would have been shut down right away," Piazza said. "You're making arguments today that are completely out of bounds."
Piazza has previously refused to let Dennis represent himself and reaffirmed that decision Thursday, saying the defendant obviously did not have the educational background to act as his own lawyer. Dennis has also undergone a mental exam at Piazza's order, with state doctors finding no mental illness.
Dennis' first lawyer, Julia Jackson, was replaced by the commission after he complained about her. Jackson had negotiated a plea bargain with prosecutors on his 10 drug cases that left sentencing solely up to the judge -- not Piazza -- who sent Dennis to prison for 60 years last October.
Metro on 09/05/2014