Bail reset in deadly Little Rock shooting after suspect arrested with gun while awaiting trial

A Pulaski County Circuit judge reset a Little Rock man's bail in a fatal shooting after the man's arrest with a gun while awaiting trial.

Kihilil Deeshun Foley had been held without bail for about three weeks after his arrest last month on a misdemeanor gun charge.

Foley, 22, is awaiting trial on manslaughter and second-degree battery charges over accusations he shot Jacksonville brothers Mario Jerome Thompson and Antonio Dewayne Bland in May 2016 at the Westwood Apartments on Little Rock's Nandina Circle. Thompson, wounded in the stomach, died at the hospital.

Foley was arrested about nine weeks after the shootings and charged by police with first-degree murder and first-degree battery. But prosecutors reduced the charges to manslaughter and second-degree battery, which together carry a maximum sentence of 16 years in prison.

He was released from jail on Sept. 20 after posting $30,000 bond in the manslaughter case.

Judge Leon Johnson revoked that bond Tuesday, forcing Foley to forfeit the money he paid a bail bondsman.

The judge then set a new bail on the manslaughter charge at $15,000 and set his bail on the gun charge at $5,000.

Foley was still in jail Wednesday night.

The arrest at issue in Tuesday's bail hearing occurred June 22 in the 9800 block of Geyer Springs Road.

Police investigated a complaint that Foley had choked his 22-year-old ex-girlfriend, Karrieta Frazier, during an argument at the Autumn Park apartments, 43 Warren Drive, then threatened to kill another tenant who tried to help her, according to testimony at Tuesday's hearing.

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That tenant, Quenisha Jefferson, 21, said she heard a disturbance outside her apartment, went outside and saw Foley, who she knows as "KD," choking Frazier, her friend, officer Drew Talbert testified.

Jefferson told police that when she tried to intervene, an angry Foley threatened to "smoke" both her and Frazier, Talbert told the judge.

When police caught up with Foley on Geyer Springs Road, he had a gun and extra ammunition in his pocket and told officers he had taken to regularly carrying a firearm because he feared for his life, Talbert said.

Foley denied any violence or threats, but said he had gone to the apartments to confront a woman who was slandering him on social media by blaming him for setting her car on fire.

He was arrested on the misdemeanor gun charge only because Frazier declined to cooperate with police, Talbert told the judge.

Frazier took the stand to tell the judge that Foley hadn't choked her and that he had never threatened to "smoke" anyone. She said she never saw Foley with a gun and had only reported the incident to police because she'd been bullied by apartment management into reporting what had happened.

Court files show Foley reported that he was living with Frazier when he was arrested in the manslaughter case.

Deputy prosecutor Grayson Hinojosa asked the judge for a substantial bail in the misdemeanor case, noting that Frazier is a witness in the manslaughter case. Hinojosa said the altercation might have been an attempt at influencing a witness.

Defense attorney Lou Marczuk scoffed at the idea that the gun arrest could be related to the manslaughter case as "pure speculation." He told the judge that prosecutors could have brought another witness to the incident, Kizzy Griffin, to court to testify, but they had chosen not to do so.

According to a court affidavit, investigators connected Foley to the Thompson and Bland shootings through witnesses at the Westwood apartments and physical evidence. One witness told police that Thompson and Bland had been in an apartment together for several hours when the brothers went outside about 3 a.m. to talk to someone.

The witness, who is not identified in the court filing, said she heard an argument and several gunshots. The witness told police that Thompson and Bland appeared to have been talking to a neighbor and the neighbor's boyfriend.

That neighbor told investigators that her boyfriend "Kaydee" had been in a "scuffle" with Thompson after Thompson showed up at her apartment, asked to use her phone, knocked on her door repeatedly and began "rambling and saying things that didn't make sense."

Officers reportedly found three .45-caliber shell casings at the scene.

Another witness at the apartment complex saw a maroon Cadillac speeding away after the shooting. Police tracked the car, a 1991 Cadillac Brougham, to Frazier. She told police she had let Foley use the car the night before the slaying.

Police said two more .45-caliber shell casings were found "sitting on top" of the Cadillac. Inside the car, officers reportedly found a gold-plated mouthpiece and a wallet containing Foley's identification.

Metro on 07/20/2017

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