HOT SPRINGS -- A man convicted March 2 of two counts of capital murder for the 2015 shooting deaths of his wife and daughter was sentenced to death by lethal injection during a brief hearing in Garland County Circuit Court.
Eric Allen Reid, 57, who has remained in custody since his arrest shortly after the Oct. 19, 2015, deaths of his wife, Laura J. Reid, 57, and his daughter, Mary Ann Reid, 32, was sentenced to death March 6 after a five-day trial.
Clad in the standard orange Garland County jail jumpsuit and wearing shackles around his ankles, wrist and waist, Reid appeared before Judge John Homer Wright with his attorney, Willard J. Proctor, of Little Rock, while Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joe Graham and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kara Petro appeared for the state.
Wright explained how the jury had found that the two aggravating circumstances offered by the state at sentencing "did in fact exist" and that the first three mitigating circumstances presented by the defense did not exist, and while the remaining mitigating factors existed, they were outweighed by both of the aggravating factors.
Aggravating factors were the state's contention that Reid knowingly caused the death of more than one person and caused a great risk of death to another person aside from the victims, namely his younger daughter, Heather Reid, who was struck in the arm by a bullet.
The first three mitigating factors the jury disallowed were the contention that Reid was under extreme mental or emotional distress at the time, was under "unusual pressures" at the time and lacked the capacity to understand his actions or conform them to the law at the time.
The other mitigating factors the jury accepted were that he had no significant previous criminal history, was gainfully employed with a good work history, served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years, had multiple health issues requiring medication and had taken courses to improve himself while in jail.
Wright said the jury found that a sentence of death was appropriate beyond a reasonable doubt. When asked by Wright, neither Reid nor Proctor had any statement to add to the record. No family members appeared in the courtroom during Reid's sentencing.
Graham told Wright he set an execution date of April 5 for Reid, noting that the statute requires that an execution date be set in 30 days even though there is an automatic and mandatory appeal of the sentence.
State Desk on 03/16/2018