An 18-year-old man killed in a September drive-by shooting in Little Rock was an innocent victim, caught up in another teen's vendetta against the victim's friend, prosecutors said Monday.
Deputy prosecutor Amanda Fields said Cordaro Da'mon Houston of Little Rock was fatally shot because he happened to be in the car driven by 17-year-old Corey Robinson, whom authorities believe was the real target.
Cedric Domond West, 18, of Little Rock was charged with capital murder after a witness said he saw West driving a white Ford Crown Victoria just before the shots were fired.
Someone in such a car, fitted out with a police-style spotlight and push bumper, fired into Robinson's white 2006 Chevrolet Malibu in the 1200 block of Fair Park Boulevard, striking Houston, who was sitting in the Chevrolet's back seat.
Two other teens in Robinson's car, 18-year-old Bobby Glenn Banks Jr. of Maumelle and 17-year-old Steven Umar Mackintrush of Little Rock, were not injured in the shooting, according to testimony.
No one saw who shot Houston, and witnesses said there was a second man in the vehicle with West.
West is scheduled to stand trial next month, but at a hearing Monday, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright refused a prosecution request to show jurors at the July trial how West and his 19-year-old brother Cleveland West were responsible for a March 18, 2014, shooting that injured one of Robinson's friends.
The judge made the decision after Robinson gave contradictory testimony Monday about the earlier shooting.
The West brothers -- 16 and 17, respectively, at the time of that shooting -- were each sentenced to eight years of probation in December 2014 after pleading no contest to first-degree battery and aggravated assault -- felonies that could have sent them to prison for up to 26 years.
Defense attorney Bret Qualls accused Robinson of lying to the judge after the teen testified that in March 2014 he saw Cedric West fire the gunshot that struck Keshaun Tyrese Kelly, who was then 15.
Robinson said he and Kelly were outside a friend's home when West drove up on a moped and confronted him because they had been in an earlier fistfight at school. Robinson said he was in 11th grade at the time.
The fight was the only time Robinson and West have been in a physical confrontation, but West and his friends have repeatedly clashed with Robinson's friends since that time, Robinson told the judge.
Asked why West might have a grudge against him, Robinson said he thought West was jealous of him, but did not elaborate.
Robinson twice told the judge that he had seen Robinson shoot Kelly in 2014, but he recanted after Qualls showed him the statement he gave to police, in which he said he didn't see the shooting and could only say the gunshots came from the direction of the West brothers, who were with two other men.
Robinson then acknowledged that he had not seen West shoot Kelly.
Prosecutors wanted to tell jurors at West's capital murder trial about that 2014 shooting to give jurors a more complete understanding of West's motives, Fields told the judge.
Qualls argued that the shooting details from 2014 would do more to make his client look bad in front of the jury than prove anything about last year's fatal shooting.
The judge did clear the way for prosecutors to use a police interview with West, conducted two days after the killing, as evidence at trial.
In the 21-minute interview with detective Matt Hoffines, West denies any role in the fatal shooting, but acknowledges that he owns a 2005 white Ford Crown Victoria.
The vehicle, which he said he never registered after buying, does have a spotlight, but no police bumper, he said. The last time West drove it was the day after the killing when he drove it to work, he said.
West said he had not driven the car for some time before that day because it has bad brakes. He told the detective that as far as he knew the car hadn't left his yard until he drove it to work.
The defense argued that police had violated West's constitutional protections against self-incrimination because the detectives continued to question him after he told them three times that he didn't want to talk any more.
But the judge sided with prosecutors, who argued that for West to claim his right to remain silent, he is required to use it and stop answering questions.
Court records show that West is also charged with aggravated assault -- a drive-by shooting at another teenager, 16-year-old Tremayne Beasley Jr. -- about a month before Houston was killed. Beasley was not injured, according to police reports.
That case wasn't addressed at Monday's hearing. After West's arrest in that shooting, West spent two days in jail before posting $10,000 bond for his release.
Metro on 06/07/2016