Deshaun Malik Rushing, accused of killing a 2-year-old girl in a shooting, has a week to take a plea deal to resolve the capital-murder and terroristic-act charges against him rather than face the possibility of a life sentence at trial.
Chief deputy prosecutor John Johnson on Monday set the deadline at what was supposed to be the final pretrial hearing for Rushing, the older of two men charged in the shooting death of Ramiya Reed.
Johnson did not disclose any terms or conditions of the plea offer prosecutors have made to the 22-year-old Little Rock man, but told Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims that the deal will expire at the end of the day next Monday.
Rushing's attorney, Ron Davis, had asked for this week's hearing to be postponed so he could continue negotiations with prosecutors. Davis has an evidentiary motion pending, and the attorney made a point of telling the judge that Rushing's May 8 trial should remain on the court calendar.
Rushing and co-defendant Larry James Jackson, 18, are charged in the November 2016 slaying of Ramiya, who was killed when shots were fired into the car she was riding in on South Harrison Street with her mother, an adult cousin and other child relatives. The toddler was the only one struck.
Jackson was 16 at the time. His case is on hold while he appeals the judge's order refusing to transfer the charges against him to juvenile court. His first filing is due to the Arkansas Court of Appeals on May 9. Both men are in the Pulaski County jail.
Police did not have the evidence to charge Jackson and Rushing until six months after the slaying, when a $1,000 reward for an arrest and conviction grew to $50,000, in part because of contributions from the city.
Court filings indicate that the turning point in the investigation came when the girl's mother told police that she had seen Jackson and Rushing, each with a pistol, in the vehicle from which the fatal shot was fired.
Rushing has picked up more charges since surrendering to police last May. Sheriff's deputies reported finding marijuana on him when he was being booked into the jail. Then a September search of his cell turned up a shank, described in court filings, as a "long object" sharpened to a point. Each discovery added an additional felony charge.
Rushing is also awaiting trial over a February 2017 arrest on aggravated-assault charges. He's accused of ramming a stolen car into two police cars that were trying to pull him over. He was on probation at the time after pleading guilty to cocaine and marijuana charges about five months earlier.
In April 2017, barely a month before his capital-murder arrest, Rushing was wounded in a drive-by shooting on Park Lane that killed a 60-year-old woman, Shirley Ann Jackson, who ran a day care service in her home. There were six children and two adults with her when she was hit by a bullet fired into the house, which she'd owned for about 13 years.
Police said that Jackson, a mother of three with 12 grandchildren, was an innocent victim and that Rushing had been the target. He was found, shot in the leg, two houses down from Jackson's home.
Rushing and Larry Jackson have been labeled gang members by Little Rock police, who say they are members of Real Hustlers Incorporated, a Bloods affiliate that was once known as the Monroe Street Hustlers.
Investigators have attributed last year's shooting at the downtown club Power Ultra Lounge, which left about two dozen wounded and injured, to the Real Hustlers. Federal authorities said the July shootings at the now-closed club was part of the group's yearslong rivalry with the Wolfe Street Crips, a feud that has been the motivation for numerous shootings and shooting attempts.
Metro on 04/18/2018