A public hearing will be held Thursday in the case of a 16-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting a northeast Arkansas police officer.
Derrick Heard of Newport is charged with capital murder in the June 2017 slaying of Lt. Patrick Weatherford, a 15-year veteran of the Newport Police Department. The hearing in Jackson County Circuit Court will provide the public with an update on efforts to bring the case to trial, said Henry Boyce, the prosecuting attorney for Arkansas’ 3rd Judicial Circuit.
It’s the first time the parties in the case have convened publicly since August, when a judge denied a motion to by Heard’s lawyer to move the case to juvenile court. Little Rock attorney Ronald Davis is representing Heard.
Boyce said Wednesday he had asked for the hearing, but could not disclose any more specifics about it.
Weatherford was killed after he and another officer responded to a call of a vehicle break-in on the parking lot of Newport High School. Weatherford ran after the person they located, whom police later identified as Heard. The officer was fatally shot while apprehending the suspect.