A Pulaski County circuit judge on Wednesday halved the $100,000 bail of a armed-robbery suspect accused of clubbing a convenience store owner with a gun, after the defendant's lawyer suggested that what occurred between the men might have been something more personal.
Laroy Benard Gay Jr., 20, was charged with aggravated robbery, theft and misdemeanor battery after a police officer recognized him from the store surveillance video as the masked man who clubbed 56-year-old Yonggill Kim with a pistol, Little Rock robbery squad detective Michael Lundy told Judge Chris Piazza on Tuesday.
Lundy said the video shows a struggle between the two men and at least one woman Oct. 16 at the Phillips 66 at 8629 Chicot Road. The robber fled with some chips and other merchandise, the detective said.
Gay was wearing a red bandanna when he entered the store and accosted Kim, but during the ensuing fight, the bandanna slipped and detectives got a clear view of his face, Lundy testified.
An officer recognized Gay, and Kim, being treated at the hospital, was able to identify Gay out of a six-man photographic lineup as his attacker, the detective said.
Police arrested the defendant at his Sunflower Drive home about three hours after the robbery, Lundy told the judge.
Kim was vulnerable to attack because he left the store's secure area behind the counter to shoo off two girls who had started an argument with him about buying a cigar, Lundy told the judge. The masked robber entered the store with pistol in hand after Kim came out to confront the girls, he said, telling the judge that police believe the confrontation was staged to lure the man from behind the counter.
The girls had been in the store a few minutes earlier asking about the cigar when they first quarreled with Kim, Lundy said. Police questioned the cigar seeker, who said she saw the masked man hit Kim with the gun. She said she knew the assailant only by a nickname and told police she was not involved with him, Lundy said. She said she was only at the store for the cigar.
The detective said police don't believe her story because the video shows them "clearly together," with Gay entering the store with her, and it shows her striking the clerk when he fought with the robber.
But defense attorney Bill James disputed that robbery was the true intent, since the masked man fled after grabbing chips and other sundries from near the counter. The gunman could have emptied the cash register but didn't, James told the judge, suggesting the assailant might have been motivated by Kim "disrespecting" someone close to him.
James asked for a $25,000 bail, saying it was the most Gay's family could afford. Deputy prosecutor Robbie Jones asked the judge to keep bail at a substantial amount, arguing that the incident was exactly the robbery it looked like.
The prosecutor also noted that although Gay has no adult arrest history, he does have a conviction as a juvenile for misdemeanor domestic battery stemming from a 2013 arrest.
The judge set bail at $50,000, and Gay remained jailed Wednesday evening.
Metro on 02/15/2018