SEARCY -- A judge agreed to delay a pretrial hearing for Jeffery Clifton, who's accused of killing his 2-year-old son.
The hearing in White County Circuit Court was scheduled for today, but Judge Robert Edwards postponed the hearing until May 31 at 9 a.m. at the defense's request. A trial date has not been set.
Clifton, 43, of Searcy is charged with capital murder and abuse of a corpse in the November 2014 beating death of his son, Malik Drummond.
Clifton, a former Arkansas State University basketball standout, is jailed without bail.
Clifton's former girlfriend, Lesley Sue Marcotte, 28, of Springdale, is awaiting a June 8 pretrial hearing and a June 14 trial. She pleaded innocent to a felony charge of hindering apprehension or prosecution.
Marcotte and Clifton first told police that Malik had wandered away from their home Nov. 23, 2014.
In an affidavit later, however, police wrote that Marcotte had since told them Clifton fatally beat Malik on Nov. 20, 2014, and kept the body hidden until early Nov. 23, 2014, when, Marcotte said, he got rid of it.
Police arrested Clifton on Dec. 1, 2015, the day he led them to the toddler's skeletal remains in a vacant lot in Auvergne, south of Newport and about 40 miles from Searcy. DNA helped authorities identify the remains as Malik's.
Malik lived with his mother, Tanya Drummond, but was staying at the home his father shared with Marcotte when the crime occurred.
Capital murder is punishable in Arkansas by death or life in prison without parole.
State Desk on 05/19/2016