A jury of six men and eight women, including two female alternates, were seated late Monday in the capital murder trial of a Pine Bluff man accused in the shooting death of a convenience store clerk in 2015.
Jury selection took the entire day Monday for the trial of Lorenzo Kellon, who was 23 when he was arrested on June 23, a day after police responded to the Big Red Store at 1802 E. Harding Ave., where they found the clerk, Hardin Singh, 46, on the west side of the store with multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body. Singh was pronounced dead at the scene by Jefferson County Coroner Chad Kelley, and three nine-millimeter shell casings were found near the body.
Kellon has pleaded not guilty to charges of capital murder and aggravated robbery in the case.
According to a probable cause affidavit from Pine Bluff Police Department Detective Cassandra Briggs-McAfee, store video showed the suspect’s vehicle pull into the parking lot and park near the gas pumps for about 10 minutes before the shooting. After Singh had walked out to smoke a cigarette, the car backed up and pulled to the interior side of the last gas pump. A second suspect got out of the passenger side of the car after the other customers left and bought a drink from a second clerk before returning to the car.
In the affidavit, Briggs-McAfee reported it appeared the second suspect had a conversation with the driver, later identified as Kellon, who got out of the car wearing a black and silver mask, a striped long-sleeves button down shirt and blue jeans. Kellon allegedly walked in a “skipping motion” while holding a handgun and went directly to the west side of the building, where Singh was. He then fired three shots before going into the store and taking cash from the register, authorities said.
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The store video also showed the second clerk squatting down near a rack when Kellon entered the store.
A description of the suspect’s car was broadcast, and the following day, police were in the area of West 17th Avenue and Mulberry Street when they saw a car matching the description. Kellon was driving, and when he was questioned, he allegedly confessed to shooting Singh and robbing the store.
Opening statements and testimony will begin at 9 a.m. today in First Division Circuit Court with Judge Berlin C. Jones presiding.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Wayne Juneau and Deputy Prosecutors Cymber Gieringer and Chris Rittenhouse are representing the state, while attorneys from the State Public Defender Commission are representing Kellon.
If convicted of capital murder, Kellon would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.