Judge revokes LR man's bail, seeing release as 'safety issue'

Citing concerns for public safety, a Pulaski County circuit judge revoked the bail Monday of a 30-year-old Little Rock man who police say can be seen in a surveillance video shooting two men earlier this month.

Also, a loaded Olympic Arms AR-15 "assault rifle" was found by police in the back seat of the car Andre Demetrius Smalley Jr. was driving when he was arrested April 10 during a traffic stop, the arresting officer, Ryan Wilkins, told Judge Herb Wright.

Wilkins testified that Smalley also said police would never "catch" him again once he posted bail and was released from jail. Smalley's lawyer questioned that accusation, telling the judge that Wilkins had not included the statement in his report of the arrest.

Deputy prosecutor Erin Driver asked the judge to revoke Smalley's bond and keep him in jail until the charges against him are resolved, pointing out that Smalley is a felon who was arrested with one gun and seen on the video using another firearm, all while awaiting trial in another gun possession case and an aggravated robbery case. Smalley has convictions for first-degree forgery, escape and second-degree battery, court records show. His bail had been set at $60,000.

Smalley only faces a charge of felon in possession of a firearm from the April 5 shooting at Our Community Market on Wright Avenue because the two wounded men, 21-year-old Anthony Atkins and 22-year-old Javian Booth, both of Little Rock, refused to cooperate with the investigation, Detective Jacob Passman testified.

He told the judge that Atkins and Booth gave police a description of the gunman's car, and police stopped and arrested Smalley, who was driving a red Chrysler 200 that belongs to his girlfriend, almost three hours after the shooting once officers found that Smalley's driver's license had been suspended. Smalley declined to speak with police about the shootings and was released with a traffic citation, the detective said.

Passman said police could not charge him in the shooting because Atkins and Booth refused to cooperate. The detective said the video from the store shows Smalley firing a 9mm pistol at the two men.

"Mr. Smalley was clearly seen in the video," Passman said. "It shows Mr. Smalley shooting the victims."

The judge said he could see potential weakness with Smalley's arrest, telling the defendant he would consider reinstating bond once formal charges are filed.

"I recognize there's some problems with the state's case," Wright said. "With what's been presented here today ... there's a safety issue for the community."

The judge was responding to arguments made by defense attorney Jason Kordsmeier, who questioned whether police had sufficient legal cause to stop Smalley after the shooting, saying that the description they had of the gunman was vague. Kordsmeier said he will consider filing suppression motions once he's had more time to review the evidence.

Kordsmeier said he has not seen the video and questioned whether it clearly showed his client like police said. He also pointed out that Smalley has only been found with a gun by police once. No weapons have been found from any of the other accusations against him, the attorney said.

Kordsmeier also disputed whether prosecutors could get a conviction in the other cases against Smalley, noting that in the aggravated robbery case, his accuser has been killed. TC Edwards, a 43-year-old local musician, was found shot to death in December in the carport of a Howard Street home after telling friends he was walking home.

In January 2014, Edwards reported being robbed at gunpoint in his Johnson Street home by a man he knew as "Black" who forced him to give up his house keys, cellphone and $13 before leaving in a grey Chevrolet Impala.

Edwards identified Smalley as the robber in a police photographic lineup the next month, and the defendant was arrested in April 2014 on charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated residential burglary and theft, which together carry a potential life sentence.

Last week, prosecutors added a residential burglary charge against Smalley, accusing him of breaking into Edwards' home sometime between Oct. 15, 2013, and Nov. 2, 2013. He's scheduled to stand trial on those charges in August.

More than a dozen friends of Edwards, many of them wearing T-shirts memorializing him, attended Monday's hearing and applauded when the judge revoked Smalley's bond.

Smalley's other weapons charge stems from complaints that he and another man, 33-year-old Christopher Lashun Perkins of Little Rock, got into a gunfight in the middle of the day on July 11 on a city street, according to police testimony.

The men were each charged with felon in possession of a firearm, with Perkins pleading guilty in February in exchange for a two-year prison sentence. Smalley is scheduled to stand trial on the charge in August.

Smalley's girlfriend, Savannah Thomas, told police that Perkins, a neighbor, had shot her car while she was driving with her children, and Thomas' mother told police that Smalley said he fired a shot at Perkins' car because Perkins was driving too fast down the street, according to police testimony.

Metro on 04/21/2015

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