LITTLE ROCK -- A Maumelle teenager arrested with a gun last year at Central High School in Little Rock has been sentenced to two years on probation.
Lamarks Danielle Smith Jr., pleaded guilty on June 30 to possession of a handgun by a minor on school property in exchange for a sentence of two years on probation. The charge is a Class D felony that carries up to six years in prison.
Deputy prosecutor Whitney Ohlhausen told Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson that Smith had never been in serious trouble with the law before and has since graduated from high school. Smith can have the case expunged if he completes probation without getting into further trouble with the law.
Smith was arrested after school security found a pistol in his backpack during a random scan on Nov. 1, 2022. Published reports said the pistol was loaded. Asked by the judge why he had the gun, Smith, who was two weeks shy of his 18th birthday when he was arrested, said he'd been receiving threats.
According to police reports, Smith had been found carrying a gun about 3½ months earlier.
Security at a July 2022 gun show at the Arkansas State Fair, 4500 Howard St., reported him to police when Smith objected to going through a metal detector. He was found to have a stolen Glock pistol with an extended grip in his waistband, a weapon he said he'd been given by his brother, the report said.
Smith told police that he had the weapon for self-protection due to threats. Smith was not charged and was released to his mother, 45-year-old Felicia Hatcher of Maumelle.