Prosecutors on Wednesday dropped a misdemeanor harassment charge against a Little Rock woman accused of accosting state Rep. Vivian Flowers and Ryan Davis, a state House seat candidate, two years ago because neither of them could attend the trial on Wednesday.
Deputy prosecutor Tracye Mosley had asked Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson to reschedule the jury trial because they are the accusers against Darlene Wyona Herndon. The 71-year-old woman's lawyers, Dan Hancock and Sharon Kiel, objected to postponing the trial a second time.
The judge had already granted a delay in September when Flowers was not available for the first trial setting because she was attending a National Black Caucus of State Legislators meeting in Washington, D.C., and a National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women conference in Baltimore.
But when Johnson declined to reset the proceeding again, Mosley dropped the charges.
In court filings, Mosley said that this time, Flowers, 52, could not appear at trial because the Pine Bluff Democrat had to be at a White House function on Tuesday and would not return until Wednesday night, although she had been informed the trial was Wednesday.
Davis, 44, a pastor and executive director of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Children International advocacy program, could not attend because he's in Hawaii for an ecumenical conference, according to the prosecutor. The Little Rock Democrat, who lost his bid for the House in 2020, said he had not been told of the new trial date and only learned the proceeding was Wednesday a little more than a week ago, Mosely reported.
The case was before Johnson on appeal from Little Rock District Court, where Herndon and co-defendant Nicholas Matthew Castleberry, her neighbor, were each found guilty in August 2021 and fined $380 with a one-year suspended jail sentence. The charge is a Class A misdemeanor that carries a maximum of a $2,500 fine and a year in jail. A misdemeanor appeal moves the case to circuit court.
Castleberry, 50, similarly appealed the verdict. But his appeal was dismissed in July by Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen after Castleberry failed to show up for a hearing, leaving in place the lower court's guilty verdict, along with the fine and suspended jail sentence.
The charges were the result of a police probe of a Feb. 3, 2020, encounter between the accusers and defendants in the Capitol View neighborhood about 3 ½ hours after sunset. The sides were strangers before that night.
According to arrest affidavits by Detective Jason Knowles, police were dispatched to investigate a disturbance with a weapon, at 204 Denison St., the Castleberry home, around 9 p.m. in response to separate 911 calls from Davis, Flowers and Herndon.
Herndon could be heard by 911 dispatchers yelling at someone, with a man shouting back at her. Herndon shouted "drop dead" to someone just before a gunshot was heard. Herndon told the dispatcher the situation was "critical."
Police arrived and saw a man and woman in the street. Officers stealthily approached them with guns drawn until they identified them as Davis and Flowers. The report states that police had concerns the incident might be related to an earlier episode of gunfire at 20th and Booker streets.
Told that Herndon had been threatening Davis and Flowers and might have also fired a gun, police went to the Castleberry residence and Herndon's home across the street at 209 Dennison, the affidavit says.
Herndon denied making threats or firing a gun, telling investigators she has weapons in the house but cannot get to them. Castleberry, described as appearing intoxicated, gave police his contact information but went into his home and did not answer the door for officers.
On the advice of lawyers, Herndon declined to answer police questions during the resulting investigation, although she did complain that she'd been harassed by the news media and random strangers since the incident was publicized.
Davis told police that he and Flowers had just left a campaign fundraiser and had stopped to talk by Flowers' car, parked at 201 Dennison St. He said a woman from the Castleberry home started asking what he and Flowers were doing and said the police would be called, according to the affidavit.
Two men also came out of that residence to question why he and Flowers were there, Davis told investigators. He said he called 911 after one of the men became hostile. He further described how Herndon shouted "drop dead" at him from her porch and that he heard what sounded like a gunshot from her home but never saw anyone with a gun. Davis told police he found the situation threatening, although he was never directly threatened.
In her interview, Flowers told police she and Davis had come from 125 Dennison and had then stopped by her car to talk. At some point, the residents at the Castleberry home began asking why they were there.
Then a woman from the Herndon house opened her door and began shouting at her and Davis. She described the encounter as hostile but did not remember receiving any direct threats. Flowers said she heard a gunshot from the Herndon residence but never saw anyone with a weapon.
Castleberry also gave an interview, telling investigators he'd been out drinking with a friend and they had gotten back to his house about 15 minutes before police were called. He said he argued with someone who had parked in front of his house, but no one had fired a gun or made any threats.
Castleberry's 80-year-old mother, Margaret Ziegler, told police that she'd gotten concerned that night after finding several cars parked in front of her home. She told police her son and his friend had exchanged words with some people in the street, and that she also had words with those people while trying to get her son and his friend to come into the house.
Herndon came outside and asked her if she needed help, then also had words with those people, Ziegler told police, according to the affidavit.
Ziegler also gave police video from her home surveillance system that shows Castleberry arguing with someone beyond the camera's reach. The recording further shows police approach and question Castleberry on this front porch but shows no evidence of a crime.
Police went door-to-door on the street looking for witnesses and found only one resident who said he heard a gunshot, but what he had heard had occurred about three hours before the incident involving Flowers and Davis.
The only evidence of gunfire was the 911 recording. Police searched the area for shell casings but did not find any.
The police probe led to the misdemeanor charges being filed about six weeks later.
Both Davis and Flowers complained about police response during the months following the incident.
They were not happy that officers had their guns drawn when they arrived at the scene, with Flowers angry that the two defendants were not charged until two months after the incident and were never arrested, only ticketed.