Calvin Thornton Jr., who claimed to be an innocent bystander to the robbery and beating death of a Little Rock man was sentenced to 50 years in prison Thursday by a Pulaski County jury that rejected arguments that he played no part in the killing.
"A horrible night of evil" was how senior deputy prosecutor Melanie Martin described the last hours of Fred William Pohnka Jr. for the eight women and four men who have spent the past three days hearing evidence.
Pohnka, 68, a father of three and grandfather to five, worked hard his entire life for what he had and loved helping other people so much he kept working as a security guard when he could have retired, she said.
The retired Army veteran died on his bloodstained kitchen floor, killed by 13 blows on his head that broke his bones and tore his skin. Co-workers found his body when he didn't show up for work.
The prosecution did not have to prove that Thornton killed Pohnka but that Thornton was an accomplice who took part in the robbery that led to his death.
Prosecutors derided the idea that Thornton had only been a spectator to the killing, someone taken by surprise when his three friends suddenly decided to commit a robbery. How did it make sense that three robbers would take someone along to a holdup unless he was going to help, they asked.
Martin called on jurors to focus on what Thornton did the night of the slaying, as shown on a surveillance video that recorded some of the assailants' movements in front of Pohnka's home.
"It's about this defendant and how he played an active role in this crime," she said in her closing remarks.
Jurors deliberated about 2½ hours Thursday to find the 29-year-old defendant guilty as charged with aggravated robbery.
But the eight women and four men reduced the capital-murder charge against Thornton -- which carried an automatic life sentence -- to first-degree murder, which has a 10-year minimum.
The panel deliberated about 30 minutes on punishment before delivering their 50-year verdict to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims.
The punishment matches the sentence co-defendant Malcolm Jamel Cooksey received for promising to testify against Thornton. They both will have to serve at least 35 years before they can qualify for parole.
Cooksey, 25, surprised prosecutors Wednesday by telling jurors that he led the July 2015 robbery and that he was the first to hit the victim.
He had been telling police and prosecutors for the past two years, right up until he got on the witness stand, that Thornton was the one who led him into the home and the one who attacked Pohnka.
But facing the jury, Cooksey said he needed to tell the truth to clear his conscience before God and accept responsibility.
In closing arguments Thursday, defense attorney Willard Proctor told jurors Cooksey's testimony amounted to a confession that should exonerate his client, who had been nothing more than a spectator.
"Finally ... the truth dawns," he said. "You heard Malcolm Cooksey. He was the one who did all of those things."
Proctor also warned jurors against relying on the testimony of the third co-defendant, Alexandria Levette Martin, 29. She received a 40-year prison sentence for reduced charges of second-degree murder and robbery to cooperate with prosecutors.
Proctor said jurors saw for themselves when Martin testified how she had gone from implicating Cooksey as the robbery leader to naming Thornton.
She was a mother of five facing a life sentence who did what she needed to do to for a sentence that could get her out of prison in 10 to 12 years instead, he told the jury.
"Alexandria told you her motivations," he said. "She made a statement to save her life."
He also asked jurors to consider why the prostitute who police and prosecutors say set Pohnka up to be robbed has never been charged.
Victoria Harton was the only one who knew Pohnka. She got him to let her and Martin into his home, then signaled the robbers when it was time to enter, Proctor said. She has never been arrested, with police citing a lack of evidence.
"Victoria Harton is not an accomplice, but Calvin is?" Proctor asked, his voice rising for emphasis. "If that's not an accomplice -- and obviously it was not -- then he is not an accomplice."
Deputy prosecutor Jill Kamps told jurors that jail inmate Jamarcus Hughes' testimony proved authorities were right about Thornton.
"What does Jamarcus know? He knows everything. Every. Thing," Kamps said. "And there's no way he could know that ... except that the defendant told him."
Hughes is awaiting trial in jail on rape and battery charges and said that Thornton had confided in him last year about killing Pohnka.
How else could Hughes' testimony match the medical evidence about how Pohnka was killed? Kamps asked. How could Hughes know that Thornton's trial strategy would be to place the blame on Cooksey? she asked.
She asked jurors to compare Hughes' calm demeanor on the stand with Cooksey's hang-dog manner. Cooksey couldn't bring himself to look prosecutors in the eye for one second while he testified, Kamps said.
Both men put themselves in danger by cooperating with prosecutors, she said. The "snitch" label is dangerous in prison.
But only one of them, Hughes, had the courage to see it through because he was angry that Thornton would beat an old man to death then laugh about it, Kamps told jurors. Hughes has already been attacked and has volunteered for solitary confinement for his own safety, she said.
"He had very little reason to tell you the truth, because it was dangerous for him," she said.
Jurors did not see Cooksey have a change of heart on the witness stand, she said. What they saw was a 25-year-old man who is going to be in prison until he's at least 54, Kamps said.
"He is looking at hard time. He's looking at hard truths, and he told you he knows it's hard on you if you're a snitch," she said.
Metro on 03/03/2017
