Before killing, gun returned to suspect

LITTLE ROCK — A Little Rock man accused of capital murder used a gun he had retrieved from police a day before the slaying, a Little Rock detective testified on Monday.

Antonio Hampton, 23, faces a life sentence over the Jan. 15 slaying of 30-year-old LaKendrick Wesley at Hampton’s home on South Schiller Street. Arrested shortly after the wounded Wesley was found on the porch of a neighboring home, Hampton hoped to persuade Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims to reduce his $1 million bail, but the judge refused to reduce the amount after a hearing on Monday.

Detective Kevin Simpson said tests by the Arkansas Crime Laboratory on shell casings in the home and a bullet from Wesley’s body matched a pistol that police had returned to Hampton on Jan. 14 after an unspecified incident. Prosecutors said it involved police investigating gunfire and that Hampton wasn’t charged.

Hampton also told officers he’d used the gun on Wesley because the older man tried to rob him. Hampton said he’d thrown the weapon away, and police have not been able to find it, the detective told the judge.

The homeowner who found the wounded man and called police said Wesley told him he’d been shot by the owner of a blue Chevrolet Impala parked down the street, Simpson told the judge. Investigators determined that Wesley had been shot at the house, the detective testified. The father of two was hit in the back, the back of an arm and the back of a leg, Simpson said, and died about an hour after he was found.

While police were preparing to search the house, Simpson said, Hampton walked up and told officers he was the car’s owner and asked for it to be returned to him. Hampton agreed to an interview at the police station, the detective said, where he told investigators that he and Wesley had been ambushed by three gunmen inside the residence. Simpson said Hampton told detectives he was able to break free from the attackers and flee, but that he heard a gunshot as he escaped.

Skeptical detectives challenged Hampton’s account, Simpson testified, and the defendant changed his story, telling investigators Wesley had come to him to buy marijuana. Hampton said the men were walking into the home when Wesley put what Hampton thought was a gun against his back and demanded 10 pounds of marijuana, Simpson told the judge. Hampton said he didn’t see Wesley with a gun, but told the officers he was able to spin around and shoot Wesley before fleeing, the detective testified. Detectives found a small amount of marijuana in Hampton’s car, and Wesley had$3,400, Simpson said.

Hampton, a father of three, also told investigators that he threw the gun away after the shooting, but hid nearby and watched police as they investigated, Simpson testified.

Deputy prosecutor Marianne Satterfield asked the judge not to reduce Hampton’s bail, saying the evidence against him creates a high likelihood of conviction. But defense attorney Denese Fletcher urged Sims to reduce the amount, pointing to Hampton’s cooperation with police as a sign he would make all of his court appearances if he were released on bail. Hampton even told police what gun he’d used in the shooting, otherwise investigators might not have figured out what weapon killed Wesley, she said.

“I don’t think the court hears statements too often about a defendant ... who helps police in their investigation,” she said. “The substantive amount of the information the police have come from Antonio Hampton.”