Teen Killers Given Hope of Parole

 James Dean Vancleave
James Dean Vancleave

Three middle-age men spending life in prison for murders they committed as teens might have a chance to get out of jail.

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Dennis Wayne Lewis

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Christopher S. Segerstrom

Recent state and federal appeals court rulings have said mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment. Teens should at least have the hope of someday being released, according to the rulings. State officials are trying to determine if the rulings should apply retroactively and, if so, how that should be accomplished.

Capital case

A prosecution case for murder in which a jury is asked to decide if a defendant should be put to death if found guilty. A prosecutor must charge special circumstances in order to sentence a defendant to death. Each state and the federal government has a list of special circumstances applicable in their respective jurisdictions. But there are some common circumstances, like cases of multiple murders, use of explosives or finding the murder was very heinous or cruel. A capital case is also called a death penalty case.

Source: uslegal.com

The three men committed their crimes in the 1970s and mid-1980s in Washington County. There are no such cases in Benton or Madison counties.

Mahlon Gibson was prosecuor for two of the cases and presided over the third as circuit judge. He said two of the murders were particularly gruesome. Gibson said he has mixed emotions about whether any of the three men should ever walk free again.

"That's a tough one. It all goes back to the mindset of the defendant and the circumstances," Gibson said. "When they get to be that age, they're responsible for their actions. They may not have the mental capability of a 40-year-old, but they're still gonna have to be responsible for their actions -- they know right from wrong."

Dennis Lewis

Dennis Wayne Lewis, 59, of Wichita, Kan., was convicted of capital murder and assault with intent to rob in 1976.

Lewis was 17 years and five months old when he gunned down J̶a̶c̶o̶b̶ Jared* Jerome (J.J.) Cobb at Cobb's Western Store and Pawn Shop in Springdale during an armed robbery April 8, 1974.

Lewis wore a dark brown wig into the store and shot Cobb in the chest with a .22-caliber pistol before cutting the telephone line and leaving with six stolen .22-caliber pistols.

A customer found Cobb's body several minutes later. The proprietor had $1,000 cash in his pocket and the cash register hadn't been disturbed.

Lewis tried to steal Howard Clark's car at gunpoint on South Turner Street in Springdale minutes after leaving the store. He fled when Clark's wife screamed. Earlier in the day, Lewis unsuccessfully tried to "strong arm" his way into a Rogers IGA store about 6 a.m.

Lewis threw the murder weapon into Lake Fayetteville and the stolen guns and a pair of gloves were found on the grounds of the Springdale Country Club.

Two off-duty Springdale police officers caught Lewis about three blocks from the store at Lake Fayetteville Park some 30 minutes after the killing. Lewis surrendered after one of the officers fired a shotgun round over his head.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty against Lewis, who had a prior armed robbery conviction as a juvenile in Kansas, but the jury recommended life without parole, the only other option in a capital case at the time. The electric chair was Arkansas' preferred method of execution from 1913 until July 4, 1983, when lethal injection was adopted.

Lewis was convicted Jan. 19, 1976. He is being held at the Arkansas Department of Correction's Cummins Unit at Grady in Lincoln County.

James Vancleave

James Dean Vancleave, 54, of Springdale was convicted of capital murder in 1978.

Vancleave was 16 when he killed 23-year-old Debra King on Jan. 29, 1978, at the convenience store on Elm Springs Road just outside Springdale.

Van Cleave stabbed King 16 times, slashed her hand 11 times and tried to slash her throat with a small hunting knife to get $30 from her purse. The cash register wasn't touched.

Two female jurors at Vancleave's trial were so upset by the case they couldn't eat the lunch provided during deliberations, according to news accounts.

King, a senior studying home economics at the University of Arkansas, was the only clerk in the store and the security system was removed several weeks earlier. Two young customers found her body behind the counter the next morning.

Vancleave, a high school dropout, was a frequent customer at the store and knew King.

The break in the case came from an anonymous caller who pointed the finger at Vancleave and told police where to find the knife and King's purse.

The caller turned out to be Thomas Wayne Robbins, a felon who was out on parole for burglary and larceny. Robbins told police he and Vancleave planned to rob the store. Robbins said he ran when Vancleave pulled the knife from his belt and started stabbing and slashing King. Robbins said he watched through the window from outside then went inside to try and stop Vancleave but it was too late.

The defense contended Robbins fabricated the story to frame Vancleave. Robbins was never charged in the case.

"A young, innocent man has been sent to prison and the man responsible for the murder has been turned loose," Bob Estes, Vancleave's lawyer, told news outlets.

Motions to transfer the case to juvenile court or change the venue because of extensive media coverage were denied. Vancleave was convicted July 24, 1978. Prosecutors sought the death penalty against Vancleave but the jury returned life without parole.

Vancleave is being held at the state Department of Correction's Grimes Unit at Newport in Jackson County.

Christopher Segerstrom

Christopher S. Segerstrom, 45, of Fayetteville was convicted of capital murder in 1986.

Segerstrom was 15 years old on July 26, 1986, when he took 4-year-old Barbara Thompson into a wooded area behind the Lewis Plaza Apartments in Fayetteville and sexually assaulted her before bashing her head in with a rock and suffocating her. Segerstrom had promised to help the child catch butterflies.

"Both the rape and the murder were outrageously violent," Supreme Court justices said in their opinion denying Segerstrom's appeal.

Segerstrom was surrounded by residents of the complex about 100 yards from the scene when police arrived. He admitted on four occasions he killed the little girl.

A motion to transfer the case to juvenile court was denied. Prosecutors waived the death penalty, leaving life without parole as the default sentence in the capital case.

Andrew Ziser, prosecutor, turned down a plea bargain offer that would have allowed Segerstrom to be given a life sentence but eligible to seek parole after about 12 years.

"I didn't want him to have the opportunity to be on the streets and maybe hurt some other little girl someday," Ziser said at the time.

The defense contested Segerstrom's mental fitness after conflicting opinions from the Arkansas State Hospital, but he was declared mentally competent to stand trial.

He was convicted June 10, 1987. The defense sought a new trial, again based on Segerstrom's low mental capacity, but the motion was denied Oct. 12, 1987.

Segerstrom is being held at the state Department of Correction's Ouachita River Unit at Malvern in Hot Spring County.

And They Wait

Matt Durrett, Washington County prosecutor, said the three cases are pending before judges to decide if the men will get a parole hearing or resentencing. The Arkansas attorney general's office is representing the state in those actions.

Durrett said he expects the cases eventually to come back for resentencing in Washington County Circuit Court, where the men were convicted so they can argue any mitigating circumstances.

It's also possible the state Legislature could enact a parole eligibility statute offering parole hearings, with no guarantee of release if an inmate fails to show he's been successfully rehabilitated.

Estes said that approach would save time and money because the state parole board is already equipped and staffed for those proceedings. A proposed bill to that effect died in committee last year.

"We're in a holding pattern to see what happens," Durrett said.

Kim Smith, a retired circuit judge, was a deputy prosecutor on Vancleave's case.

"That was a heinous crime, it was brutal. In that case I don't have a problem with him getting life without parole," Smith said. "But, in general, I think you should look long and hard before you give a juvenile life without parole."

Estes said he still gets the occasional letter from Vancleave. He said parole should be offered as a matter of fairness, based on the recent court rulngs.

"He should be either paroled or resentenced," Estes said. "I think all those folks will either get a parole hearing or a resentencing."

The Arkansas public defender's office said the state is holding 56 inmates who were convicted as juveniles and received mandatory sentences of life without parole.

Four years ago, in Miller v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down automatic life sentences with no chance of parole for teenage killers. But, the court didn't say if the ruling applied retroactively. Justice Elena Kagan wrote the majority saying judges weighing prison terms for young offenders must take into account "the mitigating qualities of youth," including immaturity and the failure to fully comprehend the consequences of their actions.

The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in June that Ulonzo Gordon should get a chance for resentencing in Crittenden County Circuit Court. Gordon was 17 when he was involved in the murder of a West Memphis man in 1995.

Gordon's resentencing was put on hold while the Arkansas attorney general's office asked the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify whether Arkansas should apply rulings regarding mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles retroactively. The high court hasn't ruled on the request.

Then on Jan. 25 a divided U.S. Supreme Court said the earlier ruling that struck down automatic life terms with no chance of parole for teen murderers should be applied retroactively. The ruling means even inmates convicted years ago must be considered for parole or given a new sentence. The court's ruling came in the case of Henry Montgomery, who has been in prison since 1963 for killing a sheriff's deputy in Baton Rouge, La. Montgomery was 17 at the time.

"Prisoners like Montgomery must be given the opportunity to show their crime did not reflect irreparable corruption; and if it did not, their hope for some years of life outside prison walls must be restored," Justice Anthony Kennedy said in the majority opinion.

Justice Antonin Scalia said the ruling "is just a devious way of eliminating life without parole for juvenile offenders." Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas joined Scalia's dissent.

The latest U.S. Supreme Court decision doesn't bar judges from sentencing teen killers to life in prison, but the court has said life sentences for teens should be rare, and only used in the worst cases.

The court's ruling could affect more than 1,000 prison inmates across the country who were involved in murders while they were teens. Some of those inmates have been behind bars more than 50 years.

NW News on 02/07/2016

*CORRECTION: Jared Jerome Cobb was murdered in 1976 by Dennis Wayne Lewis, who is set to be resentenced in the case because he was a juvenile at the time and was given a sentence of life in prison without parole. Cobb's first name was incorrect in this story.

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