HOT SPRINGS -- The first of four suspects arrested earlier this year and accused of forcing their way into a Texas couple's motel room to rob them pleaded guilty Monday in Garland County Circuit Court.
Bobby Jack Smith, 30, who had remained in custody since his arrest May 10, was initially charged with a felony count of aggravated residential burglary but pleaded guilty to an amended charge of residential burglary and was sentenced to five years' supervised probation, fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $420 in court costs.
The charges against the other three suspects -- Brandon Nathaniel Folsom, 31, Jakota Rustin Clay, 29, and Autumn Dean Polston, 27, who were each initially charged with aggravated residential burglary -- also have been amended to residential burglary, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Each of them also faces a misdemeanor count of third-degree battery.
Polston remains in custody in lieu of $15,000 bond and is set for a disposition hearing Dec. 12. Folsom, who is in prison on unrelated charges, is set to stand trial Dec. 7. Clay remained in custody Tuesday in lieu of $25,000 bond and is scheduled for trial Jan. 10.
According to the affidavits, shortly before 11:30 p.m. May 9, Hot Springs police officer Richard Nunez was in the area of the Econo Lodge, 1204 Central Ave., looking for a wanted person, identified as Clay, when he saw a group of people randomly banging on doors and windows of the motel rooms. He saw the group enter one room after the occupant opened the door, then heard a single gunshot and saw the group "run out of the room."
Four intruders forced their way into a room occupied by a 59-year-old man from Newark, Texas, and his 58-year old wife, an affidavit said. The Texas man, who had answered the door armed with a handgun, fired one shot after being knocked to the floor, striking Folsom in the torso. The bullet exited Folsom's body and struck Smith in the upper chest and shoulder, an affidavit said.
Nunez, Cpl. Brandon Jones and his police dog Keena apprehended Clay a few blocks from the motel after a foot pursuit. Smith was located near the 400 block of West Grand and transported by ambulance to CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs. A few minutes later, Nunez learned that Folsom and Polston had gone to St. Vincent by private vehicle.
Smith was taken into custody the next day and Folsom on May 19 after his release from the hospital.
The Texas man told police that he and his wife heard someone banging on their motel room's door, and he answered the door armed with a .22-caliber derringer.
He said as he opened the door Folsom hit him in the face, knocking him backward. He told police he fired one shot that struck Folsom, causing him to double over, and all three men fled the room, leaving a woman behind. He said the woman, identified as Polston in the affidavits, was pulled from the room moments later by a second female, who was questioned by police but not charged.
When questioned, Polston told police she was robbed shortly before the incident by an unidentified subject who she believed was staying in the room occupied by the Texans. She said she, Clay, Folsom and Smith left her room at the motel and walked over to the Texans' room to confront and "beat the a**" of the person who robbed her.
She told police one of the men knocked on the door and when a man answered one of the men hit him. She said she then heard a gunshot and fled.
State Desk on 11/24/2017