MARION -- A Jonesboro man who was sentenced to life in prison as a teenager in 1980 for killing a store clerk was resentenced to 40 years Friday.
The nine-woman, three-man Crittenden County Circuit Court jury recommended David Lasley, 54, be sentenced to 40 years after deliberating for about four hours, said Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington of Jonesboro.
Lasley was charged with the Dec. 28, 1979, fatal shooting of Wanda Turnbow, a clerk at the Jonesboro J.C. Penney store. Police said Lasley, then 17, robbed Turnbow and another employee at gunpoint while the two were closing the store.
Lasley fired four shots, with three striking Turnbow, police said.
Lasley was arrested and convicted of capital murder in Crittenden County Circuit Court after Lasley requested a change of venue from Craighead County. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Lasley challenged the ruling, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year that minors sentenced to life without parole should be resentenced or considered for parole.
Lasley has served 36 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction, Ellington said. The 40-year sentence includes time already served, the prosecutor said.
Ellington and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Grant DeProw called former police officers who investigated the case, along with Turnbow's two daughters.
"There was no question of guilt," Ellington said. "We did put evidence on to make the jury aware of the crime. But we were looking if there was 'irreversible depravity' and [Lasley] could not be rehabilitated for the crime he committed.
"In this case, we didn't have that."
State Desk on 12/10/2016