An eight-time absconder charged with capital murder in a Little Rock killing will get a new attorney before his April trial, the third time a judge has granted a change in his counsel.
Darrell Dennis, who is also charged with kidnapping and aggravated robbery in the May 10, 2013, death of 18-year-old Forrest Abrams, took issue with his first court-assigned lawyers and a judge granted a change that resulted in Bill James representing him.
But Dennis later complained and asked that James be removed from the case. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza allowed another change despite the judge's warning that James was "one of the best," and attorney Ron Davis then took over.
On Thursday, Davis and Dennis were back in court and the topic again became a change in legal representation.
Davis said he agreed with one part of a motion Dennis made last month seeking a new attorney in which Dennis raised concerns about there being a conflict because Davis' wife is Little Rock Police Department Sgt. Cassandra Davis.
Dennis' motion included a transcript of a hearing in which a key witness in the case is asked about CrimeStoppers money he received for providing information to authorities. The witness was asked by prosecutors if the officer who gave him the money was Cassandra Davis, and he said it was.
Ron Davis and prosecutors agreed in the hearing that the witness was incorrect and it wasn't actually Cassandra Davis who gave him the tip money. But Ron Davis said it could become an issue if he had to call his wife as a witness to counter the statement.
"This man's life is on the line," Ron Davis said, standing beside Dennis. "He deserves to have counsel who doesn't have to worry whether or not this is an issue."
Prosecutors called it a "non-issue" and said they'd be willing to stipulate that Cassandra Davis was not the officer in question.
"If that disqualifies [Ron Davis] from the case, he's going to have a hard time practicing in Pulaski County," deputy prosecutor Marianne Satterfield said.
Piazza, though, ultimately granted the request and set a hearing next Thursday to have a new attorney assigned to Dennis' case. His trial, which is set for April, was not moved.
Dennis was arrested less than 30 hours after his release from the Pulaski County jail, where he had been held on an absconder warrant. A June 17, 2013, article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette revealed the lengthy parole-violation history of Dennis before his arrest, sparking a systemwide review of the state parole system that in turn led to a change in leadership and numerous policy shifts.