A 54-year-old Little Rock man admitted his part in a slaying and abduction last week in North Little Rock after he was arrested Wednesday, but said another man pulled the trigger, according to an arrest report.
Joe Eugene Vincent's arrest Wednesday marked the third time he's been charged with kidnapping since 1992.
U.S. marshals and Jacksonville police officers took Vincent into custody after police said he sped away from an attempted traffic stop Wednesday morning, led officials on a chase along Interstate 30 and left the highway near 65th Street, North Little Rock police spokesman Sgt. Amy Cooper said.
Vincent got out of the car and tried to run away, but officers arrested him on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated residential burglary, Cooper said.
On June 15, North Little Rock police officers responded to a report of gunfire and a possible abduction at 3507 E. Washington St., Lot 53, in the Keller Mobile Home Park. When officers entered the residence, they found 54-year-old James Harold Griffin, who had been shot. Griffin was taken to an area hospital, where he died.
Witnesses told police that two men forced their way into the home, shot Griffin, grabbed 35-year-old Susan Lee Smith, forced her into a vehicle and drove away.
Smith was found unharmed the next day, though no details of how she was located or what happened during the abduction were immediately released.
Officers who completed Vincent's arrest report said he told them he participated in the incident but named another man as the shooter. Cooper said Wednesday that a second suspect has not been named, though investigators anticipate a second arrest.
In April 1992, Vincent was arrested in Pulaski County on two charges of aggravated robbery, three counts of theft of property, a charge of rape and a charge of kidnapping involving a scheme in which he and three other men would pretend to be police officers, force their way into homes, tape residents' hands together and rob them. Vincent was convicted of all the charges except kidnapping, which prosecutors did not pursue.
In July 2001, Vincent was arrested on charges of aggravated robbery, residential burglary, kidnapping, criminal mischief and theft of property in Jonesboro, for which he was sentenced to 78 months in prison with 60 months suspended.
Vincent's public criminal history in Pulaski County goes back to 1983, when he was convicted of contempt of court at age 18. Arkansas law dictates that juvenile court records be kept confidential; any arrests or charges against Vincent before 1983 are not public.
In 2005, Vincent was arrested after he and his son were ejected from a Little Rock nightclub and returned, handguns in their waistbands, threatening to kill employees there, according to previous reports. Officers later found the gun in the felon's possession when officers pulled over a vehicle he was driving.
He pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon by certain persons and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In 2009, he appealed, saying a previous conviction of possession of a sawed-off shotgun in 1994 should not have counted as a violent felony, meaning he would not have been prosecuted as a career criminal.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that sawing off the barrel makes the weapon easier to conceal and increases the spread of the shot, making it more likely to inflict carnage and ruled that possession of such a modified weapon was a violent offense.
Vincent was being held without bail Wednesday evening in the Pulaski County jail.
Metro on 06/27/2019