Prosecutors on Friday sought to delay a capital-murder trial set for Monday after finding the possible murder weapon while exploring some woods off Cantrell Road, more than two years after the Little Rock shootings that killed a father of four and wounded a toddler.
But defendant Denzel Terrell Braud insisted his trial start as scheduled, and Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza declined prosecutors' request to delay the proceeding until the state Crime Laboratory can test the Mac 10 pistol to determine whether it was the gun used to kill Cordarelle Collins of Pine Bluff.
At a hastily convened hearing Friday, defense attorney Bret Qualls said Braud is adamant that his trial begin Monday. Arrested within 30 minutes of the shootings, Braud has been jailed for more than 26 months. Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for the 25-year-old New Orleans native.
"He says he's ready to go," Qualls told the judge. "He's not willing to waive his constitutional right to a speedy trial."
Braud is also charged with two counts of first-degree battery in connection with the shootings at the Arkansas River Apartments on Cantrell Road that killed the 22-year-old Collins and wounded his girlfriend, Alexis Symone Davis, 23, and her 3-year-old son.
Deputy prosecutor Ashley Caudle told the judge that she, fellow prosecutor Michelle Quiller and investigator Patrick Raper were in the woods behind the apartments because they were researching witness accounts that the gunman ran through the woods to escape. She said Raper found the machine pistol and a second gun.
The discovery is significant because witnesses told police that Braud owned a Mac 10, which Collins had traded with Braud for a vehicle, Caudle said. The gun also fires the same type of bullets that killed Collins, she told the judge.
Prosecutors have not asked for a delay before, she said. But the judge declined to reschedule the trial, noting the length of Braud's incarceration.
Braud was the boyfriend of Davis' mother, who was the apartment tenant, and sometimes lived in the residence, along with Davis and her son.
The shooting started in the apartment. Davis and the boy were shot while hiding in a closet after the gunfire broke out. She testified that she did not see the shooter, but heard Collins talking to the shooter and calling him "N.O."
"Are you going to shoot me, N.O.?" she said she heard her boyfriend say. He then yelled, "N.O., why are you shooting me?"
Davis told police she knew Braud to go by the nickname N.O. and did not know his real name until after he was arrested.
A neighbor also identified Braud as the man he saw standing outside the apartment then walking inside. The neighbor said he heard the gunshots a few minutes after the man entered the apartment. The neighbor said that when he stepped outside to see where the noise was coming from, he saw the same man run from the apartments.
Braud was arrested nearby after asking a woman to call police, saying that he had been shot. He told the responding officers that he had fled from the apartment after being held there against his will and that he has blackout spells and doesn't know exactly what happened.
Braud's girlfriend, Sharonda Franklin, told police she'd left the home about four hours before the shooting because Braud had been acting strangely and was scaring her. Investigators also found that cooking oil had been spread on the sofa and loveseat, along with indications that someone had tried to set the furniture on fire.
Metro on 08/19/2018