Murder trial is delayed again

The trial of a man accused of shooting Pine Bluff Police Detective Kevin D. Collins has been postponed again until April 15.

Jury selection was scheduled to restart Monday before 11th West Circuit Judge Jodi Raines Dennis when defense attorneys were granted a motion for discovery. The trial of KeShone Smith, who will turn 23 on Feb. 9, was scheduled for last September when only five jurors out of 69 interviewed were selected. Twelve jurors are needed.

Smith is accused of gunning down Collins, 35, in a shootout at the Econo Lodge Motel on North Blake Street on Oct. 5, 2020, when Pine Bluff police were sent to locate him and two other men on active felony warrants in connection with a shooting death in Conyers, Ga., in June of that year.

“I can’t really give details without giving specifics to the case, but defense lawyers raise some discovery issues,” Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Hunter said Monday.

Smith is charged with capital murder, but Hunter said the state is no longer seeking the death penalty. He declined to explain why.

Smith now faces life without the possibility of parole.

“Everybody is disappointed, especially the prosecutors and family members of Mr. Collins,” Hunter said.

Defense attorney Lee D. Short of North Little Rock said his side had a motion pending about a discovery request for material beneficial to their argument that had not been turned over.

“The prosecution disclosed that witnesses had changed their stories in ways that may be beneficial to the defense,” Short said, adding Dennis made a quick decision to not start a trial in which information new to the defense would be revealed.

Short believes one of the driving factors to the prosecution’s decision to drop the death penalty was the difficulty to select a jury that would not be biased in determining whether Smith is guilty and if death would be an appropriate penalty. The jury selection attempt in September was the first in the case.

“We couldn’t find 12 people that would not be biased toward guilt or death,” Short said. “This is a high-publicity case, but it’s a case people have fixed opinions on. We were not able to get a jury that was death or life-qualified but now we only have to find 12 people who are unbiased in the guilt phase.”

Since Smith has been charged, the trial has been postponed by at least 43 motions made by state and defense lawyers, as well as the effects of the covid-19 pandemic.

“Everyone involved including KeShone Smith is hopeful this gets resolved in April,” Short said.