STAR CITY -- A couple have been charged with capital murder in the beating death of an 11-year-old boy on Sunday.
David Black, 38, and Mary Black, 30, the boy's stepfather and mother, were charged Tuesday in the death of Joseph Carsello, whose body was found by Star City police at about 4 p.m. Sunday inside a camper trailer at 212 Spring St., according to Bill Sadler, a spokesman for the Arkansas State Police.
Star City authorities requested that special agents with the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division conduct the investigation into the boy's death, Sadler said.
David and Mary Black were led into the courtroom separately Tuesday afternoon at the Lincoln County Courthouse. David Black was brought in first and sat down on the bench, where he bent over at the waist and began sobbing loudly while shaking. Mary Black looked straight ahead as she was brought into the courtroom, showing no emotion.
Lincoln County District Judge Phillip Green ordered that both be assigned public defenders and held without bail. A status hearing has been scheduled for 10 a.m. July 24.
Capital murder is a Class Y felony. If convicted, the Blacks face the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole.
Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Clint Todd declined to comment when asked if the state will seek the death penalty.
"While I cannot comment on the specific facts of this case, myself, along with numerous officers from Arkansas State Police, the Star City Police Department and the Lincoln County sheriff's department, spent Father's Day working this case," Todd said. "We cannot do anything to fix this tragedy, but we are going to do everything in our power to get justice for this little boy."
David Black and Mary Black were taken into custody late Sunday, the prosecuting attorney said. David Black was booked into the Lincoln County jail shortly after 9:30 p.m. Sunday, while Mary Black was booked into the Arkansas County jail in DeWitt just after 12:05 a.m. Monday, authorities said. The Lincoln County jail does not accept female inmates.
A neighbor told police the Blacks had been swimming at his house at 11 a.m. Sunday and that he had not noticed any bruises on Joseph, according to a probable cause affidavit that was read in court by Todd.
By 4 p.m., Joseph was dead.
Todd said Mary Black told police that she and David Black had whipped Joseph on Saturday evening with belts for trying to run away.
"As the whipping was happening, Joseph began talking back to Mrs. Black," Todd read from the affidavit. "Mr. and Mrs. Black then began striking him in the face with their hands for back-talking."
The boy's mother told police that Joseph pulled away from them and kicked his stepfather in the mouth, causing David Black's lip to bleed, before falling down some stairs and striking his head on a toolbox.
"Mrs. Black said she didn't notice any marks on Joseph after hitting the toolbox," Todd said.
According to the affidavit, Mary Black said that Joseph had picked up a hammer Sunday after returning from swimming at the neighbor's house and swung it at David Black. Mary Black said she and her husband then "went a little crazy on him to teach him not to swing a hammer."
The Blacks began whipping Joseph with their hands, belts and a paddle and told him to go stand in the corner, according to the affidavit. Mary Black told police they noticed Joseph lying on the floor a short time later, and the couple began pouring water on him to try to wake him up.
"David then noticed that Joseph wasn't breathing," Todd read from the affidavit. "Mrs. Black said that David's military training kicked in and he started doing chest compressions. That's when Mrs. Black told me she called 911."
Mary Black told police she didn't know how the bruises got on Joseph's face because "she didn't think she or David hit him that hard, but she wasn't sure," according to the affidavit.
David Black told police that he "spanked the s*** out of Joseph" on Saturday night, the affidavit said. He told police that while he was spanking Joseph, the boy rolled over and kicked him in the mouth, busting his lip. Black told police, "That's why his butt looked the way it did," according to the affidavit.
An autopsy revealed that Joseph died from multiple blunt force injuries. The boy had multiple scalp contusions, multiple impact sites on his head and torso, bruising of his arms, legs, thighs, and buttocks, abdominal hemorrhaging, hemorrhaging of the pancreas and a lacerated liver.
State Desk on 06/19/2019