FAYETTEVILLE -- A Washington County Circuit Court jury took about 30 minutes Wednesday to find a Pine Bluff man guilty of a lesser charge of first-degree murder for fatally shooting a Fayetteville man in the head.
The jury then sentenced Steven Maurice Rice, 24, to 30 years at the Arkansas Department of Corrections on the murder charge in the death of Mario Lamont Miller, 47, of Fayetteville on Aug. 11, 2020. Rice was also convicted of tampering with evidence and sentenced to six years in prison. The terms will run consecutively.
Rice dodged a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole with the verdict. Being an accomplice to capital murder is punishable by life without parole or the death penalty. Prosecutors had waived the death penalty before Rice's trial began.
First-degree murder is punishable by 10 to 40 years or life with the possibility of parole.
During sentencing, Rice apologized to Miller's family members who were in the courtroom but said he could not take back what he did.
Rice, 24, of Pine Bluff and Keishayla Hill, 24, of Stuttgart were both originally charged with being accomplices to capital murder and tampering with physical evidence in Miller's death.
Rice's trial began Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court.
Rice admitted to police he was the trigger man. Miller was shot in the back of the head from just inches away, according to Dr. Charles Kokes, a medical examiner at the Arkansas State Crime Lab.
On Wednesday morning, Hill testified against Rice as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors.
Hill testified that Miller raped her and she and Rice plotted to kill Miller. Hill said she gave Rice a pistol and he shot Miller in the back of the head.
"I told him to shoot, pop his a**," Hill said she texted Rice as they were riding around with Miller. "Steven shot him. In the head."
Miller's body was dumped, and Hill and Rice fled the area. They were arrested about 10 months later in Pine Bluff.
After Hill testified, Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay stopped the Rice trial and sentenced Hill to 40 years at the Arkansas Department of Corrections on a reduced charge of accomplice to first-degree murder and six years for tampering with physical evidence. The terms will run concurrently.
Lindsay said Hill had shown no remorse.
"What you have admitted doing can't be repaired," Lindsay told Hill. "I cannot put the victims in this case back to the way they were the day you and Mr. Rice decided to do this."
The interview
Rice told police he killed Miller because Hill, whom he considered a sister, told him Miller had raped her.
Rice said he and Hill used a ruse -- Hill promised the victim sex -- to lure Miller to a location where they got in his car. Hill sat in the front seat and Rice, with the gun Hill had provided, sat in the back seat behind Miller. Hill had asked Miller to give Rice a ride and drop him off.
Rice directed Miller to a secluded spot. When Miller stopped the car, Rice put the pistol to the back of Miller's head and pulled the trigger.
Rice and Hill then dumped Miller's body in the wooded area. Rice said Miller was too heavy for the two to put the body in the trunk of the car and they were also interrupted by a woman who lived nearby, so they left it by a driveway in a wooded area.
Rice said the original plan was to burn the car with Miller's body in it to dispose of evidence. They ended up taking the car to Pine Bluff and later selling it.
Hill pawned the pistol in Pine Bluff as well. Police later tracked down the gun, and testing at the crime lab found Miller's blood and DNA on it.
"You don't hear it very often because rarely do you have a defendant who is so casual about murder, so flippant about death," Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durrett told jurors after they saw Rice's interview with police. "He sat there and talked about what he did, talked about the planning he did."
At one point in the interview, Rice told police his dream job was to be a paid assassin, Durrett reminded jurors.
"Mario's fate was sealed when he got in that car," Durrett told jurors. "He got a bullet in the back of the head."
Closing arguments
Durrett told jurors in his closing argument that Rice decided to be the judge, jury and executioner of Miller and by doing that, he committed the crime of capital murder. Rice could have stopped it at any time but did not, Durrett said. The pair planned the killing over a period of a day and a half, he said.
"It was premeditated, deliberate murder," Durrett said. "Steven Rice alone made the decision he was going to be the one who pulled the trigger."
Durrett also told jurors police found no evidence that Miller had raped Hill. The closest they got was Hill saying Miller was aggressive with her during sex.
"No remorse. Nothing," Durrett said of Rice. "Nothing but laugh about it."
Lee Short, one of Rice's attorneys, argued Rice was filled with pain, anger and emotion and acted on impulse after Hill told him Miller raped her.
"He truly believes this guy raped his sister," Short told jurors. Short urged jurors to come back with the first-degree murder conviction, the same as Hill's plea bargain, arguing Rice acted on emotion.
Durrett argued Rice deserved more time than Hill received.
"He pulled the trigger," Durrett said "She didn't."
Steven Rice
Keishayla Hill