LR man convicted in rival's slaying

Argument between woman’s boyfriend, ex-lover led to June 2013 shooting

A 23-year-old Little Rock man was convicted of first-degree murder Monday for killing a romantic rival, despite defense arguments that the man's cousin, who had been jilted by the victim's girlfriend, was actually responsible for the slaying.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright pronounced Deontae Antonio "Hood D" Fulton guilty of killing 22-year-old Juan Reyes of Little Rock in June 2013 after a one-day bench trial. Fulton did not testify.

Sentencing is set for Feb. 2.

Both the prosecution and defense agreed Monday that Reyes had been killed by his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend. Reyes was found by police, killed by a bullet in his head, in the driveway of his Katherine Street home.

But the question was which ex pulled the trigger.

Deputy prosecutor John Hout presented Fulton as the killer, with testimony from Reyes' girlfriend, 21-year-old Morisha "Sasha" McCoy, that she had dated both Fulton and his cousin in 2012 at different times while Reyes was in prison, but she ended the relationships when he was released.

Fulton had "lots of anger," McCoy told the judge, and had been prone to fits of jealousy during the time they spent together.

Questioned by the prosecutor, she said she had received messages through Facebook urging her to say Fulton's cousin was the killer.

McCoy said she and Reyes had lived together at the Katherine Street house, but she was at work when Reyes was killed. She told the judge she initially suspected another man, whom she called Lucci, killed Reyes because the men had recently feuded.

McCoy acknowledged she had exchanged numerous text messages, many of them flirtatious, with Fulton after Reyes was killed but testified that she ended the exchanges -- "we were just talking" -- after learning police had accused Fulton of the slaying.

Fulton's cousin, 22-year-old Atarius Lavontae "Tory" Bishop of Conway, told the judge that he and Fulton were with Reyes when the man was killed. He said he didn't see Fulton shoot Reyes because he was still in his car, but he heard the gunshot and saw Reyes dead on the ground and Fulton with a gun.

Bishop said he didn't know there was any bad blood between the men.

"We was all friends. We were all cool," he told the judge. "I didn't think it would be this."

Bishop testified that the day Reyes was killed, he and Fulton had been driving around the neighborhood when they stopped to chat with Reyes in front of his home. While the men were talking, Bishop told the judge, Fulton tried to bait Reyes into a fight by talking about McCoy's sexual performance.

"Juan was trying to brush the situation off," Bishop testified, saying Reyes declined Fulton's offer to fight even after the defendant got out of the car and knocked Reyes' beer out of his hand. "He didn't get mad. He was trying to ignore the situation."

After the shot was fired, Fulton got back in the car and told him to go, Bishop said, describing how he dropped Fulton off somewhere in south Little Rock. Bishop said Fulton told him he'd shot Reyes, not because of McCoy, but because he'd heard Reyes had been talking about him.

But Bishop said he believed Fulton killed Reyes because of McCoy. He told the judge that he was scared as he drove them both away because he'd also been intimate with the woman.

"I was thinking, d***, are you going to do this to me?," Bishop said. "Because I was messing with her, too."

Defense attorney Sara Merritt accused Bishop of shooting the victim out of anger that McCoy had rejected him for Fulton and then for Reyes. He denied being hurt when the relationship ended, saying that he and McCoy had just drifted apart and that he was not jealous when she moved on to Fulton.

He said Reyes had been a close childhood friend, and he had met with Reyes when Reyes got out of prison to tell him about what had gone on between him and McCoy.

"He was going to hear about it, anyway," Bishop testified.

Bishop denied the defense accusation that he had moved out of state almost immediately after the killing out of fear that he was going to be arrested.

"I didn't want to lose my life," he said. "I love my life. I was trying to live my life."

He also disputed accusations that he had told other people he had killed Reyes. Only three people know what happened, he said.

"There were three of us. One of us died," Bishop said. "I didn't shoot him."

Metro on 01/13/2015

Upcoming Events