Murder case guilty plea earns man 30-year term

A northeast Arkansas man pleaded guilty Monday to holding his ex-wife at gunpoint outside a Walmart store and fatally shooting a man who tried to intervene, 2nd Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington said.

Gabriel Urrabazo, 23, of Trumann entered the guilty plea in Poinsett County Circuit Court. Judge Barbara Halsey sentenced him to 30 years in prison for first-degree murder. She also sentenced him to 20 years for the kidnapping of his ex-wife, Faith Morgan. The terms will run concurrently, Ellington said in a news release.

Officials said Urrabazo went to the Walmart store in Trumann on April 23, 2018, and held his ex-wife at gunpoint. Richard Highfill, 36, who knew Morgan, tried to disarm Urrabazo while police began negotiating with Urrabazo, but he was fatally shot.

A standoff lasted several minutes before Urrabazo released his ex-wife and surrendered.

"This is the right thing to do," Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tom Young said of the plea. "It was better than putting the victim's family and his pre-teen daughter, who witnessed her father being killed, through the stress of going to trial."

State Desk on 08/15/2019

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