After fewer than 30 minutes, a Pulaski County Circuit Court judge dismissed the crowd gathered to hear testimony in a former Little Rock police officer’s termination appeal.
Former officer Charles Starks appeared Tuesday in Judge Tim Fox’s court to appeal his May 6 firing. Starks was fired after he fatally shot Little Rock resident Bradley Blackshire on Feb. 22.
After brief testimony from a retired investigator, Fox said he intended to make a decision some time after the Dec. 20 deadline for attorneys to turn in summary briefs.
Though Starks' attorney Robert Newcomb had initially planned to call more than a half-dozen witnesses, only Ret. Sgt. James Stephens, a former internal affairs investigator at the Little Rock Police Department, took the stand.
The other witnesses Newcomb had hoped to call were dismissed. Fox told the court he did not want to rehash material that had already been covered in the 15-hour Civil Service Commission hearing from earlier this year.
“If at all possible, I try to rule from the bench,” Fox said. “That’s not possible in this case.”
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.