Bullet evidence contradicts the statement by a Little Rock murder defendant that a man found fatally shot was killed by someone firing into the car they were both sitting in, a detective testified Monday.
Cornelius Tyrone Chambers, 34, is charged with first-degree murder, theft by receiving and being a felon in possession of a firearm over accusations he fatally shot Adrian Deshong "Biscuit" Smith, 47, of Little Rock in September.
Police found Smith, a father of two, fatally wounded in the driver's seat of a white Honda CR-V in front of 1222 W 33rd St., next door to Chambers' home. Smith died at the hospital a short time later.
Chambers, on parole with convictions for robbery, aggravated assault on a correctional officer and being a felon in possession of a firearm, was arrested shortly after police found Smith. His bail is set at $1 million.
Testifying at a bond hearing Monday, detective Roy Williams told Pulaski County Circuit Judge Cathi Compton that Chambers said he'd spent the morning with Smith and that he'd been in the passenger seat of the CR-V when someone Chambers did not see fired a gun into the car, striking Smith.
Questioned by deputy prosecutor Robbie Jones, the detective said Chambers' version of evidence did not match the bullet evidence collected by investigators. The bullet strikes and shell casings in the CR-V show that the shooter was someone inside the car, Williams testified, saying there is no evidence the fatal shots were fired by anyone standing outside the car.
The gun that matched the shell casings in the CR-V was found on the ground behind the car, Williams told the judge.
The Ruger 9mm pistol belonged to Chambers' aunt, Sucondra Noel, who believes Chambers had stolen the weapon, the detective testified.
Williams said police had been called to the location to investigate reports of a man walking around and firing a gun. Officers arrived in time to see Chambers walking by the CR-V, the detective testified.
He said one 911 caller was Chambers' uncle, Alfred Storay, who said he had heard shots, looked outside and saw his nephew with a gun, the detective told the judge. Storay told investigators Chambers came to his door and tried to get Storay to come outside, but fearful for his life, Storay called police, Williams testified.
Defense attorney Willard Proctor asked the judge to reduce Chambers' bail, with the defendant's mother, Angela Brown Green Chambers, testifying that she'll guarantee he will make all of his court appearances. She said her son is close to being paroled with plans to live with a close friend. But after Chambers was was unable to name the friend or the residence her son will be paroled to, the judge declined to reduce bail.
Prison records show Chambers has been to the penitentiary three times. His first prison sentence was for 15 years in 2006 after he pleaded guilty to robbery, reduced from aggravated robbery, for his role in the November 2005 fatal holdup of Hollis Williams, 79, in Little Rock.
Pleading guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated robbery was Jamal Simmons, now 33, while Walter Allen Facen III, now 37, accepted a 15-year term for aggravated robbery.
Prosecutors said the three -- teenagers at the time -- had been hunting for elderly victims to rob. Williams was a house painter and a father of three married for 46 years who had just bought a bag of soft drinks from the Family Dollar Store at 1100 E. Roosevelt Road.
Williams fought with Simmons, his killer, and the robbers fled after Williams was shot, leaving on the ground the victim's wallet with $121.
Chambers' second prison sentence was a four-year term imposed for aggravated assault on a correctional employee in December 2009 in Hot Spring County, and in June 2018 he accepted a three-year sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm and theft by receiving.
Those charges resulted from a February 2018 arrest in North Little Rock. According to a police report, officers stopped a car Chambers was riding in after seeing that neither he nor driver Sherrard Scales, 34, of Little Rock were wearing seatbelts. During a search of the vehicle, police found a loaded pistol reported stolen in 2016 in England under Chambers' seat, and he admitted the gun belonged to him.
Chambers, who was on parole at the time, said he'd bought the weapon for $150 but wouldn't tell investigators who had sold it to him, the report said.