BLYTHEVILLE - A Mississippi County district judge has issued a gag order that prevents attorneys from discussing details about the Aug. 28 homicide of an 11-year-old Gosnell girl.
District Judge Shannon Langston agreed to the order after Mississippi County Public Defender John Bradley requested it during a hearing Friday.
Bradley said Tuesday that he could not comment on the case because of the judge’s order.
Second Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington also said he could not comment.
Police arrested Christopher Sowell, 17, on Aug. 29 in the death of sixth-grader Jessica Williams. He is being held in the Mississippi County jail in Luxora in lieu of a $2 million bond.
Prosecutors plan to formally charge Sowell as an adult with first-degree murder during a hearing Sept. 26 in Mississippi County Circuit Court in Blytheville.
Authorities found Jessica’s body in a water-filled ditch east of Big Lake about 3 miles from her Gosnell home on the morning of Aug. 29.
Sowell admitted to choking her and throwing her body off a bridge and into the ditch, an arrest affidavit filed in Mississippi County Circuit Court said. Sowell was a neighbor of the girl.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 09/11/2013