A year and one month to the day following the June 21, 2024, Mad Butcher grocery store mass shooting in Fordyce, a court hearing was held July 21. Travis Eugene “Joey” Posey of Cleveland County pleaded guilty to four counts of capital murder and 11 counts of attempted capital murder.
In the Ouachita County Court, survivors and families of the four people slain relived the deadly day through evidence presented by the prosecution. The prosecution is seeking four life sentences for the capital murder convictions and 20 years each for the attempted capital murder convictions.
One of the four dead was 23-year-old nurse Callie Weems. Her parents, Bruce and Helen Browning Grice of New Edinburg, were sitting on the front row as 13th Judicial Circuit Judge Spencer Singleton presided.
The couple shared their feelings about the court’s decision.
“We are fine with it,” said Bruce Grice. “Helen and I spoke with other victims and families and they agree. If we go to trial, it’d be like having to relive the experience of that day over and over for four to six weeks. He (Posey) is 46 years old. If he did receive the death penalty, it would be 25 to 30 years before he’d be executed, with opportunity for multiple appeals. Why put ourselves through that?”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“Folks are posting on Facebook how the state failed but they aren’t the ones taking off from work to sit through the gory details and watch the videos over and over. I’m all for life in prison. Everyone in the courtroom pretty much agreed with that opinion,” Grice said.
Following the hearing, the survivors and victims’ families met for lunch at Wood’s Place in Camden along with Dallas County Sheriff Mike Knoedl and his deputies, as well as Ouachita County Sheriff David Norwood and assistant prosecutors.
Grice explained the consensus of the luncheon.
“It has been a year and we are ready to put this behind us,” Grice said. “We are all getting older and Helen and I are raising Callie’s two-year-old daughter. It’s as simple as we don’t want to sit through 15 counts dragging out. We can’t move forward with this hanging over us. A death penalty won’t bring them back. ‘Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.’ God will handle it every time. It is what it is. The family of the victims are satisfied.”
Helen Grice shared her feelings.
“I feel like justice has been served as best it can be,” Helen Grice said.
Following Weems’ death, Helen and Bruce Grice received permanent guardianship of her daughter Ivy Mae. Asked about the toddler, Helen Grice said, “She is doing wonderful.”
“Would you like to hear an interesting fact?” Helen Grice asked.
“Arkansas has 23 people on death row. The longest has been there 33 years while the shortest has been there for seven. The way I feel about it, since Arkansas doesn’t have a lethal means of execution and we avoided the trauma of a trial, this is the best thing. The state was prepared to go all the way with prosecution. They had all the evidence in place,” she said.
The prosecution presented Posey’s movements tracked by video security cameras on the day of the shooting beginning just past 5 a.m. when he arrived in Earle, Crittenden County, in his over-the-road 18 wheeler. Recordings from later that day show him passing the Dallas County Library and various banks in his pickup and arriving at the Mad Butcher, with actual shooting footage.
Although no motive has been given for his actions, Posey admitted to carrying both a pistol and a shotgun with the intent to do harm.
Helen Grice said, “This way he has no right to appeal. We won’t have to take the stand and retell it all over again. This is best for the families.”
She further explained how the sheriff shared a circumstance where survivors had to experience a murder case being retried three times with appeals. In the end, the victim’s family said they wished they had gone with the plea bargain.
“Each of us will have the chance to read our impact statement to his face in court on Aug. 4 in Camden. I thought writing my daughter’s obituary was hard, but this will be much harder. I haven’t found forgiveness for him yet and I think the Lord understands. I pray he finds a relationship with God. It’s not too late for that,” Helen Grice said.
Hanna Sturgis, the daughter of 50-year-old Roy Sturgis, who was one of the victims of the shooting, explained how victims’ families and survivors have two weeks to write their impact statements before the Aug. 4 sentencing.
Hanna Sturgis said she intends to begin by saying, “You aren’t going to have your 15 minutes of fame at our expense. I’m not making this about you and you won’t steal my joy. I am as happy as I’ve ever been in my life and you won’t change that.”
In a Facebook post, she asked everyone to support and respect the decision of the plea deal offered.
“Thank you to everyone who has stood by us through this nightmare. Your kindness, prayers and strength have helped carry us through our darkest days. … We are forever changed but we are not broken,” Hanna Sturgis said.
The other fatal shooting victims were Shirley Taylor and Ellen Shrum.