HARRISBURG -- A Poinsett County Circuit Court jury took less than an hour Wednesday night to convict Charles Randall Davis of manslaughter for the 2015 fatal shooting of a rural Poinsett County man, Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington said.
Circuit Judge Barbara Halsey sentenced Davis to 10 years in prison and fined him $10,000.
Davis, 60, was accused of shooting Jeff Foster on Feb. 21, 2015, after an altercation in Davis' home in the Pitts community west of Harrisburg.
Ellington said Davis and Foster had been feuding for months and Foster went to Davis' home. Davis pointed a shotgun at Foster and told him to leave. The gun went off as Foster left Davis' home, striking Foster in the head, Ellington said. Davis' defense was that the shotgun discharged accidentally.
Davis had been charged with second-degree murder.
On Tuesday, Davis punched his attorney, Gerald A. Coleman of West Memphis, in an attempt to have his trial continued, Ellington said. Coleman was not injured and Halsey did not grant the continuance.
The state was represented by deputy prosecutors Tom Haynes and Charles Finkenbinder.
NW News on 02/20/2017