Slaying an afterthought to LR robbery, police say (Execution style murder in home invasion)

ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE ^ | BY JACOB QUINN SANDERS

[DCBryan1]

Slaying an afterthought to LR robbery, police say

Teens’ accounts of killing differ in affidavit

BY JACOB QUINN SANDERS ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

All that the four teenage boys wanted to do, Little Rock police say, was rob the old man and scare him a little.

Killing him, police said, was an afterthought. According to an arrest warrant affidavit unsealed Wednesday, the four boys, who ranged in age from 14 to 16, met Tuesday afternoon at the corner of Eddy Lane and Lark Place in a quiet, older neighborhood just south of Base Line Road, just to hang out.

One asked if the others wanted to “hit a lick” — slang for a quick robbery — at a wellkept, two-story house at 4 Lark Place.

The accounts that three of the boys gave police were muddled from there. Two boys told detectives that they were the lookouts and didn’t go inside Maurice “Beau” Clark’s house. There is no agreement in the three boys’ accounts about who carried the rifle into the house or who was in the house when shots were fired.

Police say attackers forced their way into Clark’s house through a side door off the carport. Clark, 67, died after being shot in the head. Someone stole a flat-screen television and several guns from his house.

Within 15 minutes of the shooting, police found three youths running from a black Chevrolet Cavalier stolen from Clark’s house. Another youth, Antonio Demetrius Terry, 16, was arrested at 5 p.m. Wednesday at an apartment complex at Cantrell Road and Chenal Parkway, said detective Lt. Dana Jackson.

Little Rock District Judge Alice Lightle set bail at $1 million Wednesday morning for each of the three boys in custody at that time. All were charged as adults with capital murder, theft of property and fleeing in the case.

One of the boys identified the gunman as Terry, whom police arrested on a warrant charging him with aggravated robbery in a theft that occurred Tuesday before Clark’s death, according to the affidavit.

Just before 8 a.m. Tuesday, a 45-year-old woman reported that a black male with a shotgun took her wallet after she had closed the gate to her driveway and got into her vehicle outside her home on Durham Drive. Fingerprints taken from her car identified Terry as the suspect, police said.

Terry was later charged with capital murder, aggravated robbery and theft of property in Clark’s death, said Sgt. Cassandra Davis, a police spokesman. He is scheduled to be arraigned today in Lightle’s courtroom.

A teenage boy taken into custody for questioning Tuesday afternoon was released that night after detectives determined that he was not involved in the Clark shooting and did not know the other three boys.

One by one Wednesday morning, the three teenage boys charged in Clark’s death — all cousins — stepped before Lightle, each wearing a charcoal-blue Pulaski County jail jumpsuit and in shackles.

The first was Thomas Caffrey, 16.
Then 14-year-old Mashaun Kendrick.
Craig Woods, 15, with tears tracking down his face, was last.
None spoke.

Kendrick’s mother and Woods’ mother sobbed loudly in the courtroom as the boys were led in and out by armed guards.

Caffrey’s mother did not attend the hearing.

“How you going to miss something like this and not support your child?” Kimberly Kendrick shouted into her cell phone outside the Little Rock District Court building, referring to Caffrey’s mother. “I can’t believe she’d do him like that.”

In an outfit that included a red button-down shirt and heels, Kendrick paced on the sidewalk with her hands at her temples.

“Man, a million dollars for the bail,” she said. “A million dollars. That means I got to put up $100,000. I can’t raise that. I can’t get that. What am I supposed to do?”

Before the hearing, public defender Joe Tobler warned Kimberly Kendrick and Woods’ mother, Sherrell McGee, not to discuss the case with their sons while they were in jail because the jail records all phone calls.

At the Pulaski County jail on Wednesday, the boys were three of 17 prisoners being held in a 36-capacity pod reserved for youthful offenders to keep them segregated from the adult population.

“We’re doing what we can to keep them separated,” sheriff’s office spokesman John Rehrauer said. “It’s unusual that we’d have this many involved in a case this serious.”

Of the accounts the boys gave to detectives, Woods’ offers the most detail.

Like Kendrick, Woods told police that he was a lookout, according to the affidavit. Kendrick said Caffrey carried the rifle, but Woods said Terry had it, according to the affidavit.

In Woods’ account, according to the affidavit, Terry cracked Clark in the face with the butt of the rifle.

“Mr. Woods stated that the victim fell to the ground and was bleeding,” detective Kevin Simpson wrote in the affidavit. “Mr. Woods stated that the victim then began asking them not to shoot him.”

Terry and Caffrey dragged Clark upstairs and repeatedly demanded money, Woods said in the affidavit. Again and again, Clark told them there was no money, Simpson wrote.

All four of the boys carried the television and Clark’s two guns out to the Cavalier, Woods said in the affidavit.

Caffrey said he went with the other boys to the house and went inside. He offered no further detail and said he did not know who fired the rifle.

Kendrick said in the affidavit that Caffrey, Woods and Terry were inside Clark’s house when he heard two gunshots. Woods told detectives that only Terry was inside when he heard two gunshots, according to the affidavit.

“Mr. Woods stated that he asked Mr. Terry if he shot him,” Simpson wrote, “and he stated that he just scared him.”

Information for this article was provided by Noel E. Oman of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

[DCBryan1]

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STEVE KEESEE
Thomas Caffrey (from left), Mashaun Kendrick and Craig Woods sit in Little Rock District Court on Wednesday during their arraignment on capital murder charges in the death of Maurice “Beau” Clark, who was shot in his Lark Place home Tuesday.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STEVE KEESEE
Family members of teens charged with capital murder in a Little Rock slaying Tuesday react early Wednesday as the youths are escorted into and out of Little Rock District Court.

Link to late afternoon arrest of wanted teen: (UPDATE: Police arrest 4th suspect in deadly home invasion)

[livius]

All that the four teenage boys wanted to do, Little Rock police say, was rob the old man and scare him a little.

Oh, ok, if that's "all" it was - heck, just boys having good clean fun.

[DuncanWaring]

“How you going to miss something like this and not support your child?” Kimberly Kendrick shouted into her cell phone outside the Little Rock District Court building, referring to Caffrey’s mother. “I can’t believe she’d do him like that.”

Maybe Caffrey's mother is the only rational one in the entire crew.

[Gay State Conservative]

Too bad that none of them can get the hot shot.Would it be wrong for me to pray that they each get a little “jailhouse justice” soon after their conviction?

[gitmogrunt]

"four teenage boys"

The needle and gurney for these vermin.

[Gay State Conservative]

The needle and gurney for these vermin.

Can't do it.SCOTUS....age.

[Dmitry Vukicevich]

Once again the old Russian system of justice should prevail. A bullet to the back of the heads of these “chilrun” and then charge the relatives for the bullet. It is time to flush pieces of sh*t like the down the toilet.

[DCBryan1]

No, its not wrong. Citizens here in Little Rock are outraged at these cretins.

IMHO they are defective products and should be recycled immediately to their manufacturer.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

There is no agreement in the three boys’ accounts about who carried the rifle into the house or who was in the house when shots were fired.

I hope Arkansas has a felony murder law.

If it does, it doesn't matter who pulled the trigger, they're all guilty of the murder.

[bboop]

Yes, I thot the same — she was sane, to avoid the hearing. How about the ‘mom’ whining that she couldn’t post bail. Yes, ma’am, that is what it is all about. Best thing you could do, for all of us, is leave him to rot in there.

[Venturer]

I wonder what it feels like to kill somebody?

Just an afterthought.

Well: He found out, now he should be executed himself, but of course that wont happen.

[Doc Savage]

Holy Crap! Who would have believed it!? These guys are black! I thought when Obama was elected that his hope and change would prevent this from happening. After all, he is the black Messiah!

So let's see, they're now HOPING they don't get the electric chair, and the CHANGE is that they're all about to become prison bitches for a guy named BRUNO! Yeah,that's working!

[Dmitry Vukicevich]

first the should be this. duh

[ClearCase_guy]

We don’t use the death penalty nearly enough in this country.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

No Daddies present. Single mothers are saints, don't you know?

[Red in Blue PA]

In a just world, they would be dead already!

[ArrogantBustard]

Little Rock District Judge Alice Lightle set bail at $1 million Wednesday morning for each of the three boys in custody at that time. All were charged as adults with capital murder, theft of property and fleeing in the case.

...

Terry was later charged with capital murder, aggravated robbery and theft of property in Clark’s death, said Sgt. Cassandra Davis, a police spokesman. He is scheduled to be arraigned today in Lightle’s courtroom.

Looks like you got your wish. This sort of case is a big part of the reason many States passed "felony murder" statutes.

[cubreporter]

If they had been elsewhere doing something constructive this would not have happened.

If they had been elsewhere and NOT BREAKING INTO SOMEONE ELSE’S HOME “JUST FOR FUN” THIS WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED.

How would they have liked it if someone had done the same thing to their mothers or other family membes??????

They had NO RIGHT to break into this home.
They had NO RIGHT to hit him with the butt of the gun.
This was NOT their home.
They had NO RIGHT to be in it without being invited.
They BROKE into the home. That was NOT THEIR RIGHT TO DO.

They MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD AN OLD MAN.
That was NOT THEIR RIGHT TO TAKE A LIFE FOR FUN.

They should spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
This was not stealing candy from a stor.

This was home invasion
Injury
MURDER of a helpless old man
Running from the scene of the crime
Stealing the man’s car.

This was WRONG!
They did the crime...now they should do the time.

I feel sad for their mothers but...it is time this kind of thing STOPS. You do NOT just break into someone’s home and KILL THEM! You do NO

My verdict: Guilty

God rest the soul of this man. Can you even begin to imagine the fear and horror he must have felt and experienced at the hands of these criminals????

This madness has to stop. I hope justice is served and served well. They took a soul from this earth and his family and those who loved him. They had NO RIGHT!!!

[DCBryan1]

I hope Arkansas has a felony murder law. We do.

They shot him after admitting that he begged for his life.

It was a relief that the judge charged them ALL as adults and we do follow the felony-murder doctrine as based on the Model Penal Code methinks.

Most likely, the two lookouts will testify against the two who entered the house and get 2nd degree murder, 20-40 years (out in 8 with good behavior) IOT get a capital murder conviction on the triggerman.

Honestly, I say hang all 4 in central square on the 4th of July as a deterrant. If we start treating criminals with the same swiftness and violence as they dealt upon their victims, crime would plummet.

[Gay State Conservative]

In an outfit that included a red button-down shirt and heels, Kendrick paced on the sidewalk with her hands at her temples. “Man, a million dollars for the bail,” she said. “A million dollars. That means I got to put up $100,000. I can’t raise that. I can’t get that. What am I supposed to do?”

I'll wager that it was mothers like that that played a bog role in this.That and the likelihood that the fathers disappeared about 5 minutes after conception.