PINE BLUFF -- A Star City couple accused of capital murder in the death of their 11-year-old son will face the death penalty if convicted, according to a notice filed by the prosecuting attorney for Jefferson and Lincoln counties.
In the notice, prosecutor Kyle Hunter said the death penalty is justified in the case because the "murder was committed in an especially cruel or depraved manner" and "was committed against a person whom the defendant knew was especially vulnerable," referring to the victim's age at the time of the killing.
"In our opinion, we just believe that, based on the nature of this crime, that [the death] penalty is justified," Hunter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
David Black, 38, and Mary Black, 30, the boy's stepfather and mother, were charged in the death of Joseph Carsello, whose body was found by Star City police on June 16 inside a residence at 212 Spring St., according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Lincoln County District Court in July. Star City is about 25 miles southeast of Pine Bluff.
The affidavit said Mary Black told police that she and David Black had whipped Joseph with belts on June 15 as punishment for trying to run away. As the whipping was happening, Joseph began talking back to his mother, the affidavit said, and the Blacks responded by striking him in the face with their hands.
The boy's mother told police that Joseph pulled away from them and kicked his stepfather in the mouth, causing David Black's lip to bleed, before falling down some stairs and striking his head on a toolbox, according to the affidavit.
David Black told police that he "spanked the s*** out of Joseph" on the evening of June 15, the affidavit said. He told police that while he was spanking Joseph, the boy rolled over and kicked him in the mouth, busting his lip, it said. Black told police, "That's why his butt looked the way it did," according to the affidavit.
The next day, according to Mary Black, Joseph picked up a hammer and swung it at David Black, the affidavit said. Mary Black said she and her husband then "went a little crazy on him to teach him not to swing a hammer," according to the affidavit.
The Blacks began whipping Joseph with their hands, belts and a paddle and told him to go stand in the corner, according to the affidavit. Mary Black told police that they noticed Joseph lying on the floor a short time later, and the couple began pouring water on him to try to wake him up, the affidavit said.
An autopsy revealed that Joseph died from multiple blunt-force injuries. The boy had multiple scalp contusions; multiple impact sites on his head and torso; bruising of his arms, legs, thighs, and buttocks; abdominal hemorrhaging; hemorrhaging of the pancreas; and a lacerated liver.
David Black is being held in the Lincoln County jail without bail. He is being defended by Little Rock-based attorneys George Morledge IV and Robby Golden.
Mary Black is being held without bail in neighboring Arkansas County because Lincoln County lacks any facilities to hold female detainees. It is not known whether she is represented by an attorney yet.
If Mary Black were convicted and a death sentence were carried out, she would be only the second woman to be put to death in Arkansas in modern times, said Dina Tyler, spokeswoman for Arkansas Department of Correction.
Christina Marie Riggs was executed on May 2, 2000, after being convicted of murdering her two children, Justin Thomas and Shelby Riggs, at the family's Sherwood home in November 1997.
Tyler said that if the pair were convicted and sentenced to death, then David Black would be housed on death row at Varner Supermax Unit, located 28 miles south of Pine Bluff along U.S. 65, and Mary Black would be housed in an isolation unit at the McPherson Unit, located at Newport.
According to court records, both David and Mary Black are scheduled to appear in Lincoln County Circuit Court on Oct. 7 for an omnibus hearing and on Nov. 14 for jury trial. Circuit Judge Alex Guynn is scheduled to preside over the case.
State Desk on 08/29/2019