Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright on Monday declined to reduce a teenage murder suspect's $500,000 bail after a North Little Rock detective said the 17-year-old boy admitted to shooting the victim because he'd lost a fistfight.
Anthony Fredrick Williams of Little Rock has been jailed since his Jan. 5 arrest at his West 13th Street home, about two weeks after 19-year-old Tyrone Leon Barnett of North Little Rock was killed.
Deputy prosecutor Martinique Parker opposed the bond-reduction request, predicting a "high likelihood" of Williams being convicted as charged with first-degree murder.
Barnett was shot in the neck at the Eastgate Terrace apartments on East 19th Street two days before Christmas.
North Little Rock detective Dane Pedersen testified that Williams admitted to shooting Barnett after the older teenager had beaten him in a fistfight. Williams had initially denied any involvement but eventually told Pedersen that he had pulled a pistol out of his shorts and shot Barnett as Barnett was getting into a car to leave, the detective told the judge.
Williams, who did not testify, turned 17 about five weeks before the slaying.
Pedersen said he has interviewed three eyewitnesses who say they saw Williams shoot Barnett while two other witnesses reported seeing Barnett shot as he was getting into a car.
Other witnesses told police they saw Williams at the apartments, the detective testified.
Defense attorney Willard Proctor asked for a more affordable bail. He said Barnett instigated the fight with his client because Williams said something Barnett didn't like.
The attorney told the judge there were "major glaring inconsistencies" in witness accounts. Police also questioned Williams despite Proctor's efforts to stop them, including visiting the police station in an attempt to prevent Williams from being interviewed, the attorney said.
According to a police report, Barnett, an Eastgate resident, was found bleeding heavily in front of a neighbor's apartment. His mother, 36-year-old Keisha Barnett, was also there. At least two other teenagers are among the witnesses, according to a police report.
Proctor contrasted the disparate sizes of the 5-foot-3-inch, 120-pound Williams with Barnett, who was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed about 150 pounds.
Williams acted in self-defense, Proctor told the judge, saying a confederate had plenty of time to have hidden any gun Barnett could have had on him.
Neighbors reported hearing only one shot, and no one has claimed to have seen Barnett with a gun, Pedersen said.
Court records show Barnett had been on probation about two months when he was killed. He had pleaded guilty in October to commercial burglary in exchange for five years on probation. He already was on probation for a December 2015 car burglary after pleading guilty in June.
Metro on 03/15/2017