Arkansas' highest court on Thursday affirmed a lower court's decision that allowed certain evidence at the trial of a man who was later convicted in the death of real estate agent Beverly Carter.
Arron Lewis was convicted in early 2016 of capital murder and kidnapping in the 2014 killing of Beverly Carter, a restate agent whose body was found buried at a cement plant in Cabot where Lewis had worked. Lewis was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
[IN-DEPTH: The kidnapping and killing of Beverly Carter]
Before the trial, Lewis' counsel filed motions to suppress certain evidence including statements made to Pulaski County sheriff's deputies, prosecutorial subpoenas, physical evidence from his vehicle found after a car crash, his cellphone and a voice recording of the victim on his cellphone, court documents show.
A Pulaski County circuit judge allowed Lewis to suppress his first statement to authorities but denied his request to suppress the second as well as certain vehicle evidence, the subpoenas, the cellphone and the voice recording.
After the trial, Lewis filed the appeal, arguing the circuit court erred in admitting certain evidence. In a Thursday ruling, the state Supreme Court sided with the lower court over Lewis on denying four of the five motions to suppress. The court could not state an opinion on the fifth motion because the specific allegations never came up in trial.
The state also argued that the circuit court was mistaken in allowing Lewis to suppress certain evidence found at his home and in his black 2012 Ford Fusion. The Supreme Court dismissed that appeal as "untimely."
Chief Justice Dan Kemp wrote the decision.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.