Bail denied for Little Rock man in drug case; guns found in home within easy reach of children, judge notes

A judge denied bail Tuesday for a 41-year-old Little Rock man described by police as a longtime gang member after hearing testimony that guns were found within easy reach of children in the defendant's home.

Machita Decosta "Frog" Mitchell's lawyer invoked his client's status as a married father with an expectant wife as grounds for releasing Mitchell on bail.

Attorney Maximillan Sprinkle said Mitchell is lifelong city resident with deep family ties to the community and is a devoted parent.

"That almost makes it worse," Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza said.

Piazza said the guns found during Mitchell's June 13 arrest concerned him, particularly since one of them, a loaded pistol stuffed between couch cushions, was within easy reach of the children in the home at 5902 Timberview Road.

Police found the guns, as well as $23,700 and 84 pounds of suspected marijuana, in the residence, a rental property in the Pecan Lake subdivision north of Herndon Road and east of Interstate 430.

Police were called after probation officers conducting a review of Mitchell's home found some marijuana out in the open, according to an arrest report.

A search by police turned up four trash bags and a 1-gallon plastic bag of suspected drugs, which have yet to be tested by the Arkansas Crime Laboratory, court filings show.

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Mitchell is currently on probation for misdemeanor marijuana possession.

Mitchell told police that the suspected drugs belong to him, deputy prosecutor Amanda Fields told the judge.

Authorities believe Mitchell is responsible for "a major marijuana operation," she said, asking for bail of $500,000.

The judge ordered that Mitchell, who has served federal prison time for cocaine trafficking, be jailed at least until he can stand trial next month on his pending charges from another arrest: terroristic threatening and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

In that case, he was also arrested at the Timberview Road residence, accused of threatening a man, 48-year-old Tyrone Nutt of Little Rock, while armed with a rifle in a Feb. 17 incident.

Mitchell has been on probation since April 2016, when he and co-defendant Chris Alexander, 41, pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor drug possession charges stemming from their May 2015 arrest during a police raid at Alexander's home at 1515 W. 19th St.

Each man received one year on probation.

In October 2008, Mitchell was sentenced to five years in prison for brandishing a gun at the scene of the May 2007 slaying of 24-year-old Crystal Heard in front of Juanita's, a now-closed nightclub and restaurant on Main Street in Little Rock.

Heard was fatally shot as she tried to break up a melee between rival gangs, the Bloods and the Crips, after a rap concert at the restaurant.

Juanita's security officers had emptied the building after an altercation broke out in the audience, but the fight resumed outside, leading to a shootout between at least two men.

Heard's killer was never identified. Prosecutors charged a man wounded during the shooting with manslaughter over accusations that he was the first to start shooting, but he was acquitted at trial. The man testified that he shot only into the air to scare off gang members who were threatening his friend.

Court records show that shortly after Mitchell was released from prison, his older brother, 31-year-old Theodore "Teddy" Mitchell, was stabbed to death. Teddy Mitchell's girlfriend subsequently pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the March 2012 slaying, in exchange for a 60-year prison sentence.

Metro on 08/17/2017

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